Harry Potter and The Shades of Grey
by Ravenwood240
Summary: Harry has lost his strongest supporter and has to chart his own course. Someone is going to make him an offer he can't refuse, even if it feels like dealing with the devil.
1. Midnight Callers

_A/N: This story came to me after a course in philosophy. Harry and Professor Dumbledore are seeing the world in black and white. They divide the Wizards into those people who fight against Voldemort and those who side with him. As most people know however, the world is not that simple, and somebody is going to open Harry's eyes to all the shades of grey in the world._

_**Harry Potter and the Shades of Grey**_

_**Midnight Callers**_

Harry Potter woke up from a rather boring dream of being in the History of Magic class, listening to Professor Binns lecturing about the Goblin Rebellion of 1612. He laid in the bed in the small room in Privet Drive, wondering why he would be dreaming about that particular subject, when all he could remember about that rebellion was that it had been headquartered in the Inn in Hogsmeade.

As he thought about it, he heard a gentle rapping on his window, apparently the sound that had woken him. He put on his glasses and looked at the window. It was an owl, and he frowned even as he got up. He'd just arrived back at Privet Drive today, and it was far too soon to be hearing from anyone.

He went to the window and let the owl in. It flew over to his desk and landed, waiting patiently for Harry to remove the letter attached to its leg.

Harry took the letter as he admired the owl. It was a common Barn Owl he thought, judging by the size and general shape, but he'd never seen a pure black owl before. Only the amber eyes and pale yellow beak relieved the sable hues of the bird.

Harry offered the bird a treat and some water before looking at the letter. It had no return address, and Harry didn't recognize the writing. He opened it and began to read.

_Mr. Potter,_

_I wish to speak to you about a matter of some importance to both of us, and to Wizards in general. However, for reasons I cannot put in writing, I am unable to meet with you at this time. I have sent a person you know in my place. She speaks with my voice, and can explain everything._

_I ask only that you meet with her and listen to our proposal. When you have listened to it, you may say yes or no, as you see fit. I would obviously prefer a yes, but we will accept a no. All I ask is that you listen with an open mind._

_My delegate is waiting in the small park near your home. Please send the owl back with a reply. She will wait until dawn if you can make it tonight. You may inform the Order of the Phoenix and bring one of them with you if you wish. If you cannot make it tonight, please inform us of a suitable time to meet._

_Sincerely,_

_A hopeful future friend._

Harry frowned as he stared at the letter. His curiosity grew as he read it again. How had this Wizard found him? How did he or she know about the Order? What was this request, and why all the secrecy?

Harry looked at the black owl and smiled. "What do you say, Mr. Black? Should I go see what they want?"

The owl blinked and reached out, grabbing Harry's sleeve and pulling him toward the window. Harry smiled faintly. "You think I should go, I take it."

Harry looked around the small room he slept in at the Dursley's and shrugged. He wasn't going to get anymore sleep tonight anyway, so he might as well go see what they wanted. He grabbed a parchment and scribbled a quick note.

_Miss,_

_I'll be in the park by 2:45._

_Harry Potter_

He gave the note to the owl and let it out. He grabbed the letter he'd been sent and jotted a short note at the bottom, telling Hermione that he'd gone to meet the delegate, and that he'd be in touch soon, or she should come investigate. He gave that note to Hedwig and sent her off.

Harry slipped into his best clothes, which was not saying much, as they'd belonged to Dudley first. Dudley, besides being the shape of a beach ball, was hard on his clothes. Much of that was because he knew he could get new ones whenever he wanted, but some of it was because he knew his cast off and mended rags would go to Harry.

Harry pulled his wand from under his pillow and crept downstairs, carrying his Invisibility Cloak. He slipped out the door and jammed the lock so the door wouldn't close completely behind him. He put his Cloak on and started off down the street, making sure to cross over to the other side before he reached the noisy dogs four doors down from his home.

"What are you doing, Harry? You've got to get back inside."

Harry had been expecting his minder from the Order to make themselves known, but the voice in his ear still made him jump. He stiffened as he recognized the voice. Mundingus Fletcher was a member of the Order, but Harry despised him. He'd stolen things from No. 12 Grimwald Place after Sirius' death, and Harry had never forgiven him for that.

He stopped and looked at the older Wizard, mildly surprised to find that he was slightly taller than the other man. Any doubts Harry had about this meeting died as he stared at the thieving Wizard. "Fletcher, the only reason I'm not hexing you right now is because Professor Dumbledore trusted you. I do not trust you, and since I inherited Sirius' estate and you stole from him and me, you had better stay out of my sight." Harry spoke quietly but firmly. "I am going to a meeting with potential allies and you will not interfere. If you do anything that screws this up for me, the day I turn seventeen, I will file charges against you for theft."

The other Wizard's face went through several expressions before becoming blank. "Harry," he started to say, only to have Harry interrupt him.

"I am Harry to my friends. You are not in that group."

Fletcher's face spasmed in anger. "Fine, Potter. It is still my job to guard you, and you are going back inside right now."

"Expelliarmus," Harry said, catching the other man's wand as it flew out of his hand. "Teaching the DA has taught me a few things," he said casually, "including the fact that you don't have to hold your wand at arm's length to cast a spell. As long as the motion is right, you can cast from any position if your aim is good."

Harry looked down the street as Fletcher glared at him. "Do you see that lamp up there? The third one? I'll leave your wand at its base." Harry started down the street, ignoring the silently fuming Wizard.

At the lamp, he bent over and set the wand down, casting a sticking spell at the same time, so that the wand was glued to the pavement. Harry stood up and started down the road.

Harry had barely gone a dozen steps when he heard the sharp crack of an Apparation. He whirled, leading with his wand. Fletcher was bent over, his fingers stuck to his wand. Harry smirked, silently blessing Fred and George for showing him that spell.

He walked back to Fletcher and stared at him. "Do you really wonder why I don't trust you?"

Fletcher was getting angry, embarrassed by the situation he was in. "Let me go, Potter. This isn't time for fun and games."

Harry cast the sticking spell on both of Fletcher's feet and a silencing spell on his head. "You're right, Fletcher. Fun and games died with Professor Dumbledore." Harry frowned and made a decision he'd been thinking about since Professor Dumbledore had died. "I will choose who helps me now, and you are not one of them. Go back to the Order and tell them that I never want to see you again. Tell them that if I even hear a rumour of you being in any place I own, I'll lock them all out of everything, and they can go find a new headquarters."

Harry turned and walked away, his hand tightly clenched around his wand, struggling with the urge to hex the other Wizard. Two blocks later, he cut away from the park, in case Fletcher could track him, even under the Cloak.

Harry arrived at the park right on time and took his Cloak off. He stood in the entrance of the park and grinned wryly. While the park was not that big, it was large enough for two people to miss each other in the early morning fog.

He started into the park, only to hear a low chime. He stopped, holding his wand. A few seconds later, a cloaked figure appeared out of the mist. "Potter?" said a low woman's voice, one Harry almost recognized.

"And you are?" Harry said, making sure his wand was pointing at the dark figure. She pulled her hood down, and Harry frowned. She was young, about his age, but he didn't know anyone with that face. She had dark hair and a pretty face, not a beautiful woman, but nice enough.

The girl used her thumb to push the hair behind one ear, and Harry had seen that habit, a hundred times or more. "Parkinson?" he said, stunned. Pansy Parkinson was very close to the last person he would have expected.

She looked startled and then pleased. "Five points to Gryffindor, Potter."

Harry examined her closely. "Why the disguise, Parkinson? I know what you look like." Harry didn't understand why she'd be using a Glamour now.

Pansy Parkinson, Slytherin Prefect and perennial annoyance to every Gryffindor alive, smiled. "Now you do, yes. The face I show at school is the Glamour."

Harry blinked. Something Hermione had said once crossed his mind and he decided to check Pansy's story. "Do you mind if I check that for myself?" he asked.

Pansy looked at him, interested despite the circumstances. "You know a way to see through Glamours? Be my guest, by all means." She smiled, a sly smile with a hint of challenge in it. "You don't mind if I try to learn the spell, do you?"

Harry shook his head. "I'll have to touch your face." Harry reached out slowly, noting her flinch as his hand touched her face. He cupped her cheek and cast "Finite Incanteum" on her cheek and his hand as he watched closely.

Seeing the puzzled look on Pansy's face, Harry fell into the instructor voice he'd used in the DA. "If you're touching a glamour when someone disrupts it, your hand will change briefly as the glamour reestablishes itself."

Pansy nodded in sudden comprehension. "It assumes your hand is part of the area to be covered, until it reaches the end of its range."

Harry grinned. "Five points to Slytherin, Parkinson."

Pansy motioned toward a table. "Would you care to join me over here? I am the host and I have certain duties I take very seriously. One of them is not allowing random Death Eaters to catch you, especially with me."

She led him to a table and they sat down. Harry noted the black owl at the end of the table and smiled at it. Pansy and Harry sat down and Pansy cast a spell that made the entire table glow for a second. Harry didn't hear the spell, although it sounded like "Confundis-something".

He grinned. "It must be nice to be of age and not have to worry about the Ministry," he said wistfully.

Pansy looked at him with that sly smile. "I'm not of age yet. I will be tomorrow, but I've been doing magic outside of school for a couple of years. Contacts at the Ministry are always nice to have," she said smugly. "They ignore everything I do, within certain limits."

Harry frowned thoughtfully. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to share that contact, would you?"

Pansy smiled wryly. "If we come to an agreement here, Potter, we will share far more than a single contact."

Pansy took a deep breath, studying Harry intently. "Harry Potter," she said in a low formal tone, "the Houses of Parkinson, Rimaldi, Greyfair, Warrington and Montague wish to meet with you to discuss an alliance to defeat the Dark Lord."


	2. Revelations

1**_Harry Potter and the Shades of Grey_**

_**Chapter two**_

_**Revelations**_

Harry stared at Pansy with his mouth open. He knew all of those names, and as far as he knew, they were all firmly in Voldemort's corner. He closed his mouth and shook his head. He looked at the somber girl sitting across from him. "Right." He thought about it for a minute. "Would you care to elaborate on that?" he asked.

Pansy frowned thoughtfully, looking into the distance. "It's a long story, but basically the Dark Lord's forces are split into three groups. The first group are families like the Malfoys, Crabbes and Goyles, all of whom have the Dark Marks. The second group are families and groups of allies that want to be in the first group."

She paused, watching Harry. "The last group are our families, who support the Dark Lord from fear and being too weak to stop the older, more powerful families. We wouldn't be there, except we don't have the numbers or the money to escape." Pansy's eyes burned with anger and embarrassment. "We don't go on the raids or torture people, trying to stay out of the fighting entirely, and since we do, the first two groups force us to serve them in all sorts of ways."

She smirked. "That's why I use the glamour at school and act the way I do. Malfoy hates clingy simpering girls, so I put the act on to make him leave me alone."

Harry nodded. "It seems to have worked. He's been chasing Greengrass recently."

Pansy grinned. "Daphne hates him, but she also enjoys teasing him. Her family has just enough power that he can't force her to serve him."

Harry smiled. "Good for her." He looked at Pansy, thinking about what she had said so far. "None of this explains why you want to ally with me though. I can't free you from Voldemort."

Pansy shivered. "We've been watching the Dark Lord since he returned to his body. It is the considered opinion of the Houses that the Dark Lord."

Harry held up his hand. "Parkinson, I know where you've been, but here and now, he's not a lord. Call him Voldemort, or if you can't do that, call him by his name. He was born Tom Riddle." Harry had a sudden thought and spoke impulsively without thinking about what he was saying first. "Unless you can call him by my name for him. Moldywart is a much better name I think."

Pansy had flinched at the name Voldemort, raised an eyebrow at Riddle's name, and went goggle-eyed at Moldywart. "Potter, you may have a death wish, but I don't. Please don't do that when I'm within hearing."

Harry smiled thinly. "Parkinson, he's a man. A Dark Wizard, yes. An evil and brilliant man, yes. But he's still only a man, born Tom Riddle to the last daughter of Salazar Slytherin and a Muggle father named Tom Riddle. He grew up in an orphanage and he couldn't fool Professor Dumbledore as a student, and now, I know things he doesn't. He's a man who thinks he's immortal. I know better."

Pansy swallowed as Harry spoke and stared at him. She'd never seen Harry like this, fierce and determined. "Right. Just a man. Potter, he kills faster than than most people get annoyed."

Harry nodded. "Yes, he does and that makes him scary. I assume that you want to do something about that, or you would not be here with me."

Pansy nodded. "We had to do something. It is our opinion the the" Pansy hesitated, "Riddle is insane."

Pansy saw Harry's amused look and sighed. "Yes, Potter, we know that all Dark Wizards are insane to you, but to those of us who see shades of grey in the world, he's insane in a very bad way. He's started doing things for illogical reasons and sometimes for no reason at all that we can figure out."

Pansy frowned at Harry's smirk. "It's not a joke, Potter."

Harry was still smiling at the mental image of Peter Pettigrew being tormented for no reason except Moldywart's boredom. "Pardon me if I find the thought of Moldywart randomly killing Death Eaters to be a good thing for me."

Pansy sighed in exasperation as she used her thumb to push the hair out of her eyes. "Are you even listening to me, Potter? Not everyone following him is a Death Eater. Some of us are there because we don't want to die."

Harry frowned at her. "Wrong is wrong, Parkinson, whether you do it to save yourselves or because you enjoy it."

Pansy stared at him for a second and then laughed. "That's rich, coming from you, Potter. How many rules have you broken? You, Granger and Weasley?" She looked around and lowered her voice. "Including an Unforgivable, I understand." She waited for his response to that accusation.

Harry stared at Pansy. "Bellatrix Black has much to answer for," was all he said about it, as he saw Sirius fall through the veil again.

Pansy watched the look in Harry's eye as he thought about Sirius' cousin. She had not really believed that Harry would use an unforgivable on anyone, but he was not denying it. She considered what that meant. Harry might be capable of defeating the Dark Lord after all. For the first time since her father had told her what they were planning, Pansy began to feel some hope that this wild scheme would work.

Harry sat and thought about the proposal for some time. These people were bad, or so he'd thought. And yet, they were coming to him to save them. That they were coming to him in self preservation, not because they thought what Voldemort was doing was wrong worried him, but Professor Dumbledore had given every chance to Draco and Professor Snape.

Harry sighed. He admired Professor Dumbledore and he would follow his example, but not to the extent the Professor had. It had after all, cost him his life. He looked at Pansy, who had been studying him as he thought. "What do you expect from me, and what am I getting in return?"

Harry had no intentions of being fooled. He would make sure that the other people had as much to lose as he did, in case this was a trap.

Pansy had watched as Harry thought about the offer. She had seen the many emotions passing across his face and had been marshalling arguments to further her case when he finally spoke. She blinked, taking a minute to adjust to the thought that she had completed the first part of her mission. "So you will meet with the families?"

Harry nodded and Pansy started writing a note, which she gave to the black owl. She thought, trying to figure out how to get the second part of her mission started. She looked around, and saw the first hints of dawn on the horizon. She watched the owl fly away and turned to Harry. "He'll be back in an hour or so. Until then, can we go to your house and get out of sight?"

Harry frowned. "I'll have to hide you from the Muggles."

Pansy blinked. She'd been given to understand that Harry lived with his Aunt and Uncle, but the tone of his voice was bitter and angry. She frowned. "The Muggles? I thought they were your family."

"Unfortunately, yes," he said quietly, looking at something no one else could see, "but true family is in the heart, and the three of them don't have one heart between them. They have forbidden any of those 'freaks' in their house."

Pansy frowned. "What freaks?"

Harry sighed. "In the considered opinion of the Dursleys, all Wizards and Witches are freaks."

Pansy stared at him, stunned. "But you're a Wizard." Harry just looked at her. Pansy finally got his silent message."I'm sorry, Potter. I should have kept my mouth shut." Pansy frowned. She'd been sent to stay as long as possible with Harry. The families had to use him to break the ties with Voldemort, but they knew next to nothing about him and they wanted that to change.

She frowned. If she was going to have any chance to study Potter and find out exactly what kind of person he was, she had to go with him. She sighed. "Potter, I'm going to show you something, and I really hope you understand why I keep it a secret."

Harry tilted his head, waiting. Pansy closed her eyes and concentrated. Harry jerked as she started to shrink, blurring and disappearing under the table. He had seen enough Animage transformations to recognize it, so he waited until Pansy stuck her head back over the table.

Pansy was a very nice Adder, he decided, as he looked at her. She was a dark brown and black snake, about a meter long and as thick as Harry's arm. Harry didn't know much about snakes, but he'd read a couple of books after finding out that he was a Parselmouth and he could recognize what type of snake she was. What kind of Adder she was, he didn't know, but he did know two things. First, she was most likely poisonous and second, she was showing a great deal of trust in him, revealing an unregistered Animage form.

"You can hide me in your shirt like this," she said in Parseltongue, startling him.

"You're a Parselmouth?" he asked.

The snake shook her head, a strange motion that involved the entire first part of the body. "If an Animage assumes a form that has a language, they can understand that language while they are in their animal form."

Harry nodded. "I can get you to my room like that, and after that you'll have to be quiet until we figure out what we're going to do."

Snake Pansy nodded and moved up on the table. "Until then, may I get in your shirt? It's a bit chilly out here for my current form."

Harry sighed as he opened his shirt. He had a flash of humour as Pansy slid into his shirt. "I can't believe I'm letting a Slytherin wrap her undoubtedly poisonous body around my waist."

"Very poisonous," she agreed from inside his shirt. "And how do you think I feel about getting so intimate with a Gryffindor?" she said, and Harry could hear the humour in her voice. "Speaking of intimate, there's a shopping bag on the other side of the table. Would you put my clothes in it and bring it along, please?"

Harry froze in the act of getting up from his seat. "Are you naked?" he asked, trying not to blush at the thought.

Pansy sighed. "Potter, how much do you know about the Animage training?"

Harry thought about it. Most of what Harry knew was from third year, when he'd met Sirius, Peter and Professor Lupin. "Not a lot really. It can go very wrong, which is why the Ministry tries to keep track of everyone that tries it. Other than that, only what Professor McGonagall has shown us and she keeps her clothing."

Pansy sighed wistfully. "Professor McGonagall is a master Animage with decades of practice. It will be years before I'm as good as she is." Pansy started talking as Harry put the clothes on the other side of the table in the bag he found there. "The first few Animage transformations are done nude, Potter. After you have the shape down in your skin you can start adding your clothes. So far, I can only add my knickers and wand."

Harry started toward Privet drive, trying not to think about the snake around his waist becoming a girl dressed only in her knickers. As a distraction, he asked, "when did you become an Animage?"

"The summer after fourth year. With an experienced Animage to look after you and lots of work, you can make the first transformation in about three months. I had worked on the theory all through fourth year, and spent four hours a day working on it that summer."

Harry thought about that for a few minutes. "If we come to an agreement, your teacher is going to teach four new Animages."

"Four? You, Ron Weasley and Granger I assume, but who's the last one?"

"Ginny Weasley."

"I thought you broke up with her. Or is this an attempt to get her back?" Pansy knew that the two of them had been dating before the Headmaster's death, but nobody in Slytherin knew what had happened to break them up.

"No, we're over." Harry left it at that. If this was a trap of some kind, the other side didn't need to know that he still had deep feelings for her.

Harry looked around. They were approaching the place where he'd left Fletcher, and Harry wasn't going to leave him there to be found by an early rising Muggle. Fletcher was already gone though and in his place was a pair of people. "Stay quiet. We're got some company."

Harry looked at the two figures waiting for him. Both of them were easily recognized and Harry began thinking. He walked up to the pair, letting his wand slip into his hand. He smiled faintly as the older male wizard with the artificial eye drew his wand and the younger girl with bright blue hair put her hand behind her. Apparently, Tonks still carried her wand in her back pocket.

Harry stopped about four meters from the pair. "Hello, Tonks. Would you mind showing me the face you were wearing when we first met?"

The young woman frowned. "This one I think. I lose track of the faces sometimes."

Harry smiled. "Not this time. That's it, right down to that vivid shade of pink hair." He looked at the other wizard. "Hello, Sir. Where did we go on our first trip together?"

Mad-eye Moody nodded approvingly. "Glad to see you're taking some precautions, lad. We flew to the headquarters of the Order, in Black's home and Tonks here allowed you to meet Mrs. Black." His eye rolled for a few seconds. "Why do you have a poisonous snake around your waist, Harry?"

Harry shrugged. "I am a Parselmouth and it is a useful skill. My friend can be a scout, spy or a threat, as I choose."

Moody nodded, smiling. "You're growing up, Harry. Or am I not allowed to call you Harry either?"

"You are, but let's get out of sight before continuing this conversation. I have a feeling that it is going to be a long one." Harry started toward No 4. Privet Dr and Tonks walked next to him.

"Wotcher, Harry. How's life treating you?"

Harry looked at her and shrugged. "About normal, actually. Riddle still wants to kill me, the Order wants to control me, and I have to spend the next two months with people who hate me and fear what I am. All in all, it's a normal summer for me."

Tonks smiled sympathetically. "On the bright side, this is the last summer it will be like this."

Harry smiled, a strange fey smile. "Yes it is, and if the Dursley's only knew how much I am anticipating my coming of age, they'd be begging you to make me ten again." Harry's tone made both of the adults look at him.

Tonks frowned. "Harry," she began, only to be cut off.

"I'm not going to do anything, Tonks. I am going to tell them that I have to kill Voldemort. Then I'm going to tell them that after I do, when the Wizards would do anything for me for saving them from him, I'll be back to do things to them that n one else could get away with." Harry smirked at the two Aurors. "Then I'm going to leave, and never return."

Moody chuckled. "Leaving them to wonder when you'll be back and what you're going to do. They'll think of things you never would. Very Slytherin of you, Harry."

Harry grinned as Pansy twitched in his shirt. "I thought so. They're useless bigoted people, but I'm not going to sink to a level they understand."

They reached the house and Mad-Eye looked at it, his wand coming out again. "Someone's jimmied the front door."

Harry was quick to reassure the paranoid Wizard. "I did it when I left. I don't have a key to the door." He looked at the two of them. "Nobody should be awake yet, so let's be quiet when we go inside. As we go upstairs, I'll point out a stair. Step over it because it creaks very badly."

Mad-eye looked at Harry and then at Tonks, who was avoiding their eyes. "Right. I'll cast a silencing spell on it as I go by."

Harry led them inside, pausing to lock the door and then leading the other two upstairs. He pointed the stair out to Moody and heard the muttered spell. At the top of the stairs, he looked back in time to see Tonks trip, catching herself by putting her hands out. Naturally, she put both hands on the creaky stair. Moody sighed as a blushing Tonks joined them at the top of the stairs.

Harry let them into his bedroom and sat on the bed as Moody prowled around the room, casting spells in every direction. Some of them were detection spells and the rest were warding spells, designed to keep any outside Wizard from getting int the room, or hearing what went on inside. When he was finished, Moody looked at the other two. "We can talk now."

He leaned against the wardrobe and looked at Harry. "Let's start with your version of tonight's adventure."

Harry told them about the night, leaving out Pansy and her abilities, simply calling her the 'delegate' and not mentioning any of the Houses by name. He also told them about his encounter with Fletcher. "My choice will stand. I don't like or trust that thief and I don't want him getting his hands on anything else that was Sirius's."

Moody grimaced. "After I heard about your run-in with him, I set some traps around the headquarters. Nothing else has been taken from the house, Harry." Moody frowned, thinking about what Harry had told them, and what he'd left out. "Who are these allies of yours? Can you trust them?"

"Slow up, Sir. I don't have them yet, I've simply agreed to meet with them to discuss terms. I'm not going to say anymore before the meeting, but if this works, I'll pull about a third of Voldemort's support out from under him, just as I begin my final push to destroy him." Harry was watching Moody. As they understood his words, they both reacted in their own way.

Mad-Eye Moody narrowed his eyes, thinking about the consequences of that move. Tonks whistled and then grinned at Harry. "What a lovely way to annoy him." Pansy, who thought Harry was talking too much, moved restlessly in his shirt and Harry saw Moody's eye react. Moody used both eyes to stare at Harry's waist and Harry could almost see him thinking.

Harry reached into his shirt. "Come out and act like a snake. Moody suspects." He put Pansy on the bed where she found a warm spot and curled up. Harry looked at the others. "She was being so quiet I forgot she was there until she woke."

Pansy raised her head and looked at Harry. "Please try and hurry this up, Potter. Breakfast is coming and I still prefer food to mice, even if the mice are more fun to eat."

Harry grinned, picturing Pansy chasing mice. When the other two Wizards looked at him he shrugged. "She's just reminding me that breakfast time is coming."

Mad-Eye pushed the snake aside for more important considerations. "A third, hm? That would hurt him, if you can trust them."

Harry sighed. "I don't have a lot of choice right now. I'll have more options after I talk to them. I have had some indications that they are bargaining in good faith right now though." Moody invited him to continue with a look. "First, they know where I am and there are no Death Eaters trying to break in. They can enter the house, but none of them have. The delegate they sent gave me several bits of information that could be useful, and she has been very open about their motives and reasons."

Harry bit his lip, thinking about what he wanted to say next. He didn't want to give secrets away, but he couldn't leave the Order out of something like this. "This is something you'll have to tell the Order, but no one else." Harry told them what he'd been told, about Riddle being insane. "That's why they are coming to me. They want to survive and they think I have the best chance to help them do that."

Moody was frowning heavily as he stumped around the small space he had to pace in. "If Voldemort has gotten so bad that his followers are seeing his insanity, we have to do something before he does something drastic."

Moody stopped, staring at Harry as he made a decision. "Harry, I'm going to tell the Order to let you run with your plans. They obviously trust you, not us, so go with your instincts. You can owl me anytime for advice though." He looked around the room and picked up a Muggle pen that was on the desk. He pulled his wand and cast a spell. "Don't lose this, Harry. It is a portkey that will bring you back here and alert me at the same time."

He handed the Port Key to Harry. "Keep it with you. Don't worry about Fletcher, I'll deal with him and for Merlin's sake, try to keep us informed." He nodded at Tonks who said goodbye and disapperated.

Moody turned to Harry and then looked pointedly at Pansy. "Who's the girl? You seem to want to keep it a secret, which I understand, but my eye can see an Animage in their animal shape."

Harry winced. "I was afraid of that. I cannot tell you, Sir. I promised her I would keep her secret, and since they are acting in good faith right now, I cannot break my word to them."

Moody stared at Harry for a minute. "I see. You're right, it wouldn't be a good thing to start breaking your words to allies. Can she understand me?"

"Tell him yes, Potter," Pansy hissed and Moody grinned.

"Never mind, I see she can." He looked at Pansy, who had raised her head and was staring at him. "Since no registered Animage has a snake form, I can understand you not wanting to be exposed. However, I promised Dumbledore I would look after Harry if something happened to him, and leaving Harry with an unregistered Animage who just happens to be poisonous would not be keeping that promise."

Moody stopped and regarded Pansy. "Wait a minute." He started pacing again as the two teenagers stared at him. "Harry said the delegate was female. The Animage is female, probably the same person. Harry also said that the delegate was important to the group, and they would pull a third of Voldemort's followers. Harry would never trust or deal with LaStrange or the Malfoys, so the Death Eaters are out. The ones that want to become Death Eaters would never try to break away in mass like this."

Moody was muttering to himself, as the other two watched. "That leaves two possibilities." Mad-Eye looked at Harry keenly. "Tell me something. Is this girl one you know from Hogwarts?" Harry was unable to keep a flicker of shock from his face. "Never mind, I can see she is."

He turned to Pansy. "I'll keep your secret, Miss Parkinson, as long as you look out for Harry while you're with him. Agreed?"

Pansy stared at him for a second, shocked at the accuracy of his deductions. She nodded. After all, she needed Harry to complete her mission, and she already had orders to help him. "Good," Moody said calmly, "then I'll be off since I see the Muggles are getting up. Harry, I'm going to leave the spells up so you can talk to Miss delegate in private." Moody held out his hand, and Harry took it. "Good luck, Harry. If you can pull this off it will be the biggest blow to Voldemort since the night you got that scar." Moody let go of Harry's hand and disappeared with a low crack.

Harry and Pansy stared at each other. "That man is scary, Potter."

Harry had to agree as he looked at the time. "I've got to go. Will you be alright up here?"

Pansy slithered over to him. "Put me in your shirt again, Potter. I have an urge to see these Muggles of yours."

Harry debated refusing and then sighed. Parkinson would probably just come downstairs on her own if he didn't take her with him. He opened his shirt again and Pansy crawled inside. "Stay quiet," he instructed, "and stay still. They hate Hedwig and I can only imagine how they would react to you. They would probably try to kill you."

"They can try," Pansy hissed as she got comfortable. "I don't think they'd succeed though."

"Boy!" came a bellow from the stairs.

"Coming, Uncle Vernon," Harry said, and started downstairs.

The next hour was typical of Harry's mornings with the Dursleys. Petunia and Vernon berated Harry, complaining about his attitude, hair, the cost of raising him and a dozen other real or imaginary complaints.

Harry ignored it, having heard it all his life as he made breakfast for them. Petunia's breakfast was simple, but Dudley was up to four heaping plates for breakfast, more food than even Ron could eat in a single meal. Uncle Vernon's three plates were not much better, and Harry was cooking for nearly an hour before he could eat.

After the other three were finished eating, Harry was grudgingly allowed a slice of dry toast and one egg while Petunia moaned about the cost of feeding Harry. Harry swallowed his food quickly and claimed a need to brush his teeth before hurrying upstairs.

Safely in his room, he undid his shirt, pulling Pansy out and putting her on the bed. "What is the matter with you? You were nearly squeezing me in half down there."

Pansy transformed, waving her wand at the door. "Those bloody freaking Muggles," she snarled, glaring at the door, "I wouldn't treat a House Elf like that. To do that to a relative is unforgivable!"

She looked at Harry, who had his back to her and was examining the wardrobe door closely. "What is the matter with you, Potter?"

"It might have escaped your notice," he stammered, feeling the heat of his blush, "but you're a bit undressed." Harry had gotten a very good look at Pansy's chest as she changed and Harry was certain that she had quite a nice chest in his limited experience. Of course, they were the first breasts he'd seen in person, rather than in pictures, but still, they were quite nice.

Pansy looked down at herself, confused. "Yes, and?"

"Would you please put some clothes on?" Harry asked, flushing again.

"Potter, it's only skin. You can't be turned on by nudity." Pansy stopped suddenly. Potter had been raised by Muggles, rather uptight and strange ones at that, and his only Wizard friends were the Weasleys, who didn't agree with the customs of many of the older, richer families. A terribly interesting thought came to Pansy suddenly. "Potter, are you a virgin?"

Harry didn't have to answer as the red flush crawling up his neck said everything. "Oh my," Pansy said. She crossed to Harry, and hugged him from behind. "We can rid you of that problem anytime you'd like."

Harry was so surprised that he turned, facing Pansy. "What did you say?"

Pansy smiled and laid her head on his chest. "I said we could fix that anytime you want to." Pansy looked up at Harry and did something many of the girls at Hogwarts had been wanting to do since the end of the Tri-Wizard tournament. She ran her fingers through his hair, trying to straighten it out.

Harry was very aware of the warm, half-nude body pressed up against him, and for just a second the thought ran across his mind that he had broken up with Ginny and was free to have another girlfriend.

"Boy! The dishes need doing." Petunia's voice came up the stairs. Pansy snarled wordlessly and pulled away from Harry. "That cow will pay for this, Potter." Pansy was incensed. She'd been raised to believe family was all important, and to hear that thing downstairs treating a relative like this, especially one Pansy needed desperately was making her remember certain things she'd learned from the Death Eaters. If she didn't think Harry would object, that cow would be under the Imperious Curse right now.

She turned to Harry and sighed. Harry was staring at her breasts, fascinated by the way they jiggled when she moved. Pansy grabbed him and turned him toward the door after kissing him quickly. "Go deal with them, Potter. Tonight, we will discuss them and tomorrow."

Harry blinked at her and smiled. "Parkinson, you've offered me an alliance, spent a couple of hours wrapped around my waist and are about to spend the day in my bedroom after kissing me. I think you can use my name."

Pansy grinned at him. "No, I think I'll save that for after we do something important, Potter."

Harry went downstairs, his mind full of Pansy. Her sense of humour, her obvious intelligence and of course, her looks, dressed or undressed. He thought about her offer, torn between his feelings for Ginny and the vision of Pansy's body.

Harry barely noticed the dishes, the dusting, the laundry or the other tasks he did every day as he thought about all the things Pansy had offered him. It was not until Harry was making Dudley's bed that he had another thought, one that disturbed him profoundly. Why was Pansy so casual about sex?

He thought about that until the chores were finished. He looked at the time and he had about thirty minutes before he had to make lunch for Aunt Petunia. Uncle Vernon had gone to work and Dudley had left just after breakfast, probably to join the other losers in bullying people at the park.

Harry went upstairs to find Pansy studying a thick tome at his desk. She looked up as he entered. "You've got mail, Potter."

Two owls were waiting for Harry. He took the letters from them, recognizing only the black owl. He gave them both some water and an owl treat. He set the one letter down and opened the one the black owl had brought.

An old fashioned key fell out of the letter when he opened it.

"_Mr. Potter,_

_Thank you for agreeing to meet with us. The key we have sent you is a Port Key that will take you and up to four others close to the Inn in Hogsmeade. We have reservations in dining room three Thursday at 1230. If that is inconvenient for any reason send an alternate time back with the owl If it is acceptable to you, we will see you there._

_Cordially,_

_Mr. Parkinson_

_PS. Pansy has asked to stay with you until the meeting. If that is acceptable to you, it is acceptable to me._

_Mr. Parkinson."_

Harry frowned, looking at Pansy. "How did you ask to stay with me? You didn't put it in the note, and you haven't had an owl."

Pansy shrugged. "Not all of the old money families despise Muggles. They can be endlessly inventive, not having magic to do things." She reached into the shopping bag and brought out a cellular phone. "I can't use it in many Wizard places, but anywhere else it's very useful."

Harry grinned. "Would you show me how to use it?" He looked through his desk. Hermione had given him her number once, and Harry was quite certain he still had it somewhere. He finally found it in the back of a drawer and called Hermione, following Pansy's instructions.

"Hello?" Hermione sounded absent and Harry grinned. He could almost see the book she was reading.

"Good morning, Miss. May I offer you a complete set of the writings of Lord Voldemort?"

"What?" came Hermione's voice, no longer absent. "Harry? Is that you? Do you really have something he wrote?"

"Hermione, if you'll stop asking questions, I'll answer a few." Harry interrupted the steady stream of questions.

"I'm sorry, Harry, but we've known each other for nearly seven years, and this is the first time you've called me."

"I know, but something has come up and I really need to talk to you. Can you meet me in Diagon Alley tomorrow around ten?"

Hermione thought for a minute. "Yes, I can do that. We'll meet at the Leaky Cauldron. What's going on, Harry?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow." Harry had a sudden thought, inspired by his dream of last night. "Do you remember the Goblin Rebellion of 1612?"

"Of course. It was headquartered in."

Harry interrupted her again. "Do you remember how it was ended?"

"Yes, one Goblin faction."

"We might be able to do the same thing to Riddle."

There was a moment of silence at the other end of the line. "That's very risky," Hermione said finally, "but if it works." Her voice trailed off as she thought about the possibilities.

"Exactly," Harry agreed. "That's why I want to talk it over with you tomorrow." Harry laughed. "As Ron put it, you're like a textbook with legs, and I need that mind right now."

At the other end of the line, Hermione smiled. "Of course, Harry. I'll be there."

They said their goodbyes and Harry hung up, giving the phone back to Pansy. He thought for a minute and looked at the time. "I wanted to talk to you," he said, "but I have to start lunch for Aunt Petunia. Do you need anything?"

"I'll be fine, Potter. I ordered a meal for two from a place that makes owl deliveries. I'll wait for you."

"Don't bother. After I cook and do the dishes, I have to do the garden and wash the car." Harry was matter of fact about the chores he had to do, but Pansy started fuming again. "Why do you put up with this rot, Harry?"

Harry looked at her. "It's a long story, but I promised Professor Dumbledore that I would stay here until my birthday. After that, I will never return to this house again."

Pansy looked at him for a minute. "Go on then," she said, her voice oddly gentle. "I'll be waiting when you're done with the mice."

Harry smiled and reached out. His hand slowed as she flinched, but he stroked the side of her face with the back of his hand. "Thanks, Parkinson."

Harry went downstairs to start the afternoon chores, thinking hard. Twice now, Pansy had flinched when he reached for her face, and that raised thoughts and questions Harry preferred not to think about.

He made Aunt Petunia's lunch, listening to her instructions with half his attention. His chores hadn't changed in years, but she still told him what she wanted done, as if he'd forget overnight.

Harry did the dishes and went outside. Harry grinned as he looked around. The lawn and garden were perfect. Everything was cut, trimmed, hedged or otherwise taken care of and the only weeds in sight were in the neighbor's yard. Harry smiled again. It was almost like magic. He went around to the front of the house to find the car perfectly clean, inside and out.

He went inside and started up the stairs. "Finish your chores, boy. I won't have any lazy slackers in this house."

"They are finished, Aunt Petunia." Harry smiled at a smirking Pansy, who stood at the top of the stairs, twirling her wand.

"They'd better be. If I find a single thing undone, you'll skip dinner."

"Yes, Aunt Petunia." Harry followed Pansy into his room. "You have got to get me that contact at the Ministry," Harry said as he watched he examine several small packages.

"I'll set it up for you tomorrow while you're talking to Granger."

Harry shook his head. "Afterward," he corrected, "I'll need you for information when Hermione starts with her questions."

Pansy stopped with a package in her hand. "Knowing Granger, she's already writing questions for you." She looked at Harry. "How do you put up with someone that knows everything, and wants to tell you about it?"

Harry smiled, thinking back over the years. "By remembering all the times her knowledge saved me, or helped me."

Pansy set the packages up on the desk and waved her wand over them. They expanded to full size dishes with aromatic smells coming from them. "Lunch is served."

Harry was pleasantly surprised by the food. Soft warm bread sticks with a hint of garlic, a creamy broccoli and cheese soup and rack of lamb in a mild mint sauce had dry toast and peanut butter beat by a long way Harry decided.

When Harry was done, Pansy brought out a cherry cheesecake and they nibbled on it as they chatted. By unspoken accord, they kept the lunch talk light, speaking of people and events at school, leaving all the questions they wanted to ask about each other unasked.

Finally, the food was gone and Pansy sighed. "You have questions, I have questions. I'll answer all of yours if you explain to me how you ended up here and why you put up with that abuse."

Harry nodded slowly. "You know about the events of October 31st, 1981. This is what has happened since." He told her about the blood protection, about Professor Dumbledore wanting him to grow up outside of the "Boy Who Lived" fame and about Professor Dumbledore not knowing about the abuse.

He told her about his life growing up, about living in the cupboard under the stair and the things he lived through. Pansy was not Hermione, but neither was she stupid and she asked questions in the right places.

The more she heard, the angrier she got. She had been raised under a number of rules, and the first was "Family First." Your family was your life, and you helped them, period. To hear Harry describe sixteen years of abuse like that made her wish she could cast the killing curse on the Muggles without getting caught.

She stared at Harry when he was done. "How did you put up with it?" she demanded, "I'd have done things to them as soon as I returned from Hogwarts that first year."

"Parkinson," Harry said, "relax. Sometimes things happen for a reason, and sometimes they just happen. If you waste your energy fighting every little wind of fate, you'll have nothing left when you need it." Harry grinned. "Like when Moldywart makes his annual attempt to kill me."

Pansy choked on her Butterbeer. "Potter," she gasped, when she could talk again, "I swear. Will you stop that? If Riddle ever hears you calling him that, it will be a daily attempt on your life."

Harry grinned at her. He'd invented the name on the spur of the moment last night, just to see if he could get a rise out of Pansy, and it seemed to work. "Parkinson, you need to relax. Ron, Hermione and I plan to do something about the annual annoyances this year."

Pansy jerked and sat up straight in her chair. "You know how to kill him? What are you waiting for? Do you need help or what?"

Harry stared at her, holding a debate with himself about how much he was going to tell her. Finally, he started talking quietly. He told her about the Horcruxes and Riddle's experiments with them. "So," he concluded, "As long as he has one of them intact, I am not going to face him. After we're found and destroyed them all, then he can be killed just like anyone else." His face hardened. "I'm hoping that your group can help me with that. I will kill him, but I could use help with the Horcruxes."

Pansy was staring at Harry speculatively. "That's the second time you've mentioned killing him, as if you had to do it."

Harry had not mentioned the prophecy, wanting to hold it back in case something went wrong with the alliance. He didn't want Moldywart knowing it until it was too late for him to do anything about it. Pansy frowned, thinking about the things she'd learned from Harry, and from the talk among the Death Eaters. She started to get an idea. She watched Harry closely as she started talking aloud. "Fifth year, there was something he wanted badly from the Ministry. We tried, but we didn't have any contacts in the Hall of Mysteries."

Pansy thought about that, and then her eyes widened. "There's a prophecy, isn't there? Concerning the Dark Lord and you? That's what he wanted so badly." Pansy frowned. "That was when we decided he was losing his mind. He killed eight or nine people over the next couple of days."

Harry sighed and Pansy looked at him quizzically. "Why doesn't he ever kill the people on my list?" he complained. "Both Malfoys, Peter, Snape, well, not Snape. I want Snape and Bella myself. But there are a few that I would love to hear that he'd killed in a rage."

Pansy smiled that Slytherin smile again. "I know exactly what you mean. I have this list of people that would be perfect as the focus of a funereal," she said wistfully.

They sat there for a minute and then Pansy went back to the first topic. "You obviously know the contents of the prophecy and Riddle doesn't. You seem to think you're going to kill him, but prophecy is never that clear."

Harry smirked at her. "And you said Moody was scary. Keep going, I want to see how close you get."

Pansy sat in silence for a few minutes, putting together everything she knew about prophecies, Voldemort and Harry. "I think, given what I know about you and what I know about prophecies, that it says something along the lines of you kill him or he kills you. It identifies both of you somehow also."

"Ten points to Slytherin, Parkinson." Harry was impressed with her reasoning. "There's a bit more to it, which you will learn after the alliance is concluded, but that's the important bit."

Harry looked at Pansy and passed her a Butterbeer. "Right now, you owe me a life story," Harry looked at the clock on his night stand. "I don't have time," he said, frustrated. "I have to start dinner for them."

Harry stood up and stared at the remains of their lunch. "I wish I knew where to find a House Elf like Dobby."

"Harry Potter called Dobby, Sir?" Harry and Pansy spun, startled at the unexpected voice coming from near the door. Both of them were leading with their wands. "Dobby is sorry!" The House Elf cringed and grabbed the wardrobe. "Dobby scared the great Harry Potter and his friend. Dobby must punish himself."

Harry grabbed Dobby by the arm before the House Elf could smash his fingers in the door of the wardrobe. "Dobby," he said, "it's ok, don't do that. What are you doing here?" Harry was grinning at the House Elf. Second year had been memorable thanks in great part to this House Elf, but since then, he'd almost become a friend, and he was the single most loyal of Harry's supporters.

Dobby looked up at Harry mournfully. "With the great Dumbledore gone, Hogwarts' House Elfs is not liking working with Dobby and Winky. I am hoping Harry Potter hire us."

Harry stared at the House Elf, noting the sideways looks and involuntary flinching whenever he met Harry's eyes. "Dobby, does Winky want hiring, or does she want a more traditional position?" he asked sternly.

Dobby wailed. "She doesn't understand! I try to make her see, but all she wants is a family!"

Pansy was staring at him incredulously. "A liberated House Elf? You mean there really is one?"

Harry smiled. "Dobby, this is Pansy Parkinson. Parkinson, this is Dobby."

Dobby bowed low. "Dobby is most happy to meet any friend of the great Harry Potter."

"Oh, likewise," Pansy assured him, a bit taken back by having been introduced to a House Elf, as if they were equals.

Harry looked at the clock again. "I have to go do some things with the Muggles. Can you and Winky be here about nine to discuss employment?"

Dobby began bouncing up and down. "We can do that. Dobby will be here for Harry Potter." With that, the bouncing House Elf disappeared silently, just as he had at the end of his first meeting with Harry Potter.

Harry turned to Pansy, grinned at her astonished face. "I know he's a bit strange, but I like Dobby, despite the fact that he was a large part of making my second year the hell it was."

Pansy grinned. "Wasn't that the year you started by flying a car into the Weeping Willow?"

Harry flushed. "Dobby caused that, in a round about sort of way. He charmed the entrance at Platform 9 3/4 not to admit me, and since by the time we figured out what was going on, there wasn't anyone else around, we couldn't think of any other way to get to school on time."

Harry frowned at the clock. "I've got to go." He swallowed the rest of his Butterbeer and went downstairs. With his thoughts and the new plans forming in his head, Harry floated through the evening chores without even noticing the Dursleys. He cooked dinner, did the dishes and other chores with an abstracted air that did not go unnoticed.

"Boy," Uncle Vernon called, "come here." He was sitting in the living room. "What's the matter with you? You're not coming down with something, are you?"

Harry blinked, startled out of thoughts of alliances and wars. "No," he said, and then a terrible idea blossomed in his mind. He would later attribute it to spending the day with a Slytherin. "I'm simply wondering how much longer this house is going to be safe."

Harry frowned thoughtfully. "This blood protection is supposed to be unbreakable, but Voldemort is a powerful wizard, and one of the smartest as well. He's had seven years to work on it so far, and sooner or later, it's going to fail or he'll find a way around it." Harry frowned for a minute, thinking about what he'd just said. Finally he shrugged. "Nothing I can do about it either way. As long as he doesn't find it before my birthday this year, I don't care. After my birthday," Harry thought about it some more. "Well, to be honest, since I won't be here, I don't care then either."

Vernon Dudley was frowning as he listened. "Voldenolt? He's that dark wizard you were talking about last year. What's he want here?"

Harry smirked. "Two things," he said cheerfully, "he hates Muggles, kills them every chance he gets. Second, he wants to kill me or recruit me. He's made both offers to me, you know."

Vernon frowned. He vaguely remembered that word. "That great hairy freak from the island called me that. What's a Muggle, boy?"

Harry shrugged. "It's what a Wizard calls a non-magical person. There are three types of humans in the world, Wizards, Squibs and Muggles. Voldemort wants to kill all the Muggles."

Harry studied Vernon as if he was seeing him for the first time. "You know," he said, fighting to hide his amusement as his trap closed, "I never realized how high you have to be on Voldemort's list of people to kill. You're a Muggle, you're related to the only person to ever defeat him, and you have hidden me from him for sixteen year while he searched for me. You have to be on his top five list of people to kill."

Vernon had listened to Harry, growing paler as he did. "This charm thing keeps us from finding us, doesn't it?" he asked weakly.

"Yes," said Harry, "as long as I spend part of each year here, the charm will protect us all." He stopped. "Unless he finds a way around it," he amended his statement.

"Which he hasn't done yet, right?" asked a sweating Vernon.

"Of course not," Harry said, pinching his leg to keep from laughing. "If he had, we'd be waist deep in Dark Wizards and Death Eaters."

Vernon stared at Harry, thinking about what Harry had said. "What happens after your birthday?"

Harry shrugged indifferently. "Since the charm requires that I spend at least part of each year here, sometime next year around my birthday, it's going to fall apart and stop working," Harry said bluntly. "If you three are lucky, Voldemort will be dead or too busy to look for you."

"And if we're not lucky?" Uncle Vernon asked this in the tone of a man expecting to hear about a terminal illness.

Harry shook his head. "Then Voldemort will kill you. Slowly if he has the time, but quickly if he has to." Harry stood up, looking down at Vernon. "For once in your life, Uncle Vernon, you'd better hope that I am better than the freak you have called me for all these years. I am the only thing that stands between you and death by a pain so intense and terrible that I don't have the words to describe it, even after I have experienced it."

Harry walked out, and went upstairs, smiling faintly at the horrified expression that had been the last thing he'd seen on Uncle Vernon's face. In his room, he found Pansy snooping in his desk. She looked up at him irritably. "You have the most boring life, Potter. Don't you ever do anything interesting here? There's nothing here to blackmail you with, not even a men's magazine."

Harry grinned. "Did you look under the bed?"

Pansy shot him a scornful look. "I found that loose board in less than five minutes. You are such an amateur at hiding things." She smiled. "I did like the hidden compartment in the wardrobe though. It is very well done. Who did it for you?"

Harry stared at her in puzzlement. "What compartment?" he asked.

Pansy turned to stare at him in astonishment. "It has mail addressed to you in it, I thought it was your hideaway from the Muggles." She went to the wardrobe and pointed her wand at the bottom. _"Alohomora"_ she said, and the bottom frame of the wardrobe cracked open, revealing a long thin drawer.

Harry bent down and grabbed one of the stacks of letters. It was addressed to him, and was from Hermione. He opened it and read a few lines. "It's my mail, from second year. Dobby was hiding it from me, trying to keep me from going back to Hogwarts. I never did get it."

He looked at the other letters, older and more faded than the ones addressed to him. He lifted a stack of them out. "Lily Evans," he read quietly, "from Sirinda Hooch." He looked at the rest of the letters in silence. In the very back, he found six bundles tied with red ribbons. "Lily Evans, from James Potter." Those letters had several addresses on them, Hogwarts, some Muggle address he didn't know, and an address in Godric's Hollow. "My mother's letters from school," he said softly. He stared at them all for a minute and replaced them carefully. He closed the drawer and stood up.

He looked at Pansy, who was watching him silently. "I would appreciate it if you would leave those letters alone," he said quietly, but with a hint of steel in his voice that had Pansy's eyes widening. "I want to think about this for a few days."

"I won't open the drawer again, Potter." Pansy was re-evaluating Harry. He could be disturbing at times. She was beginning to understand how he'd survived so many attempts on his life by the Dark Lord. Riddle, Voldemort, whatever, she corrected herself in her mind.

Harry put his mail from second year in his desk and his eye fell on the second letter he'd received this morning. He picked it up and read it. When he was done, he read it again. He stared at it for a minute and sighed. "I am never going to hear your story," he said, as he passed the letter to Pansy.

She frowned at Harry and then started to read the letter while Harry thought.

"_To: Mr Harry Potter,_

_Greetings and Salutations._

_My name is Nicholas Sharpstar and I was employed by Albus Dumbledore to deal with your business affairs until you came of age. I did have instructions in case of certain events coming to pass, and Headmaster Dumbledore's death was one of them._

_First: I am to inform you that I have possession of a large crate, which will only open for you. It contains things that Albus thought would be useful to you in your endeavors._

_Second: While the full Potter and Black estates will have to wait until you have come of age, the vault you hold the key to has been substantially increased. As of this date, you have 96,468 Galleons, 577 Sickles and 617 Knuts in your vault._

_In addition to that sum, you may request up to 100,000 Galleons more prior to your birthday. After that of course, you will have access to the full fortunes of all your vaults, as well as the other things that come with your estates._

_If possible, I would like to speak to you at your earliest convenience. I will be in my office in Diagon Alley all this week, and most evenings as well. There are some things we need to talk about and some things to do before you come of age._

_Sincerely,_

_Nicholas Sharpstar."_

While Pansy was reading the letter, Harry had made a decision and was rooting around in the back of the wardrobe for his Invisibility Cloak.

Pansy finished the letter and looked up to see Harry come out of the wardrobe with half a body. "Yes!" she crowed, "father owes me fifty Galleons." At Harry's puzzled look, she elaborated. "We had a bet on. I said you had to have an Invisibility Cloak or item to get away with some of the things you did, and he thought you had a map of some kind, that showed all the secret ways around Hogwarts."

Harry smirked. "You're both right."

Pansy raised an eyebrow and then frowned. "But I don't get any extra money that way," she complained. She eyed Harry doubtfully. "I don't suppose you'd forget to say anything about it to my father, would you?" she asked hopefully.

Harry shrugged. "Actually, I'd prefer to just pay you fifty Galleons to forget the whole thing. Both of the items lose a lot of value if they're common knowledge."

Pansy looked pointedly at the letter she still held. "I think you could offer more than that," she said, with that Slytherin smile in place again. Harry started to frown at her, until he realized she wasn't serious.

"At least I know what we're doing after we talk to Granger tomorrow. You are not going to the meeting looking like a charity poster child." Pansy waved the letter at Harry. "You are getting some decent clothing."

Harry sighed. "In the meantime," he said patiently, "if you'll change to your other shape, we'll go use a Floo connection."

Pansy was changing, and she slithered into Harry's shirt before speaking. "What Floo? There are no Wizards within a dozen blocks of here." Her voice changed, becoming teasing. "I think you just want my nearly nude body wrapped around you again."

Harry blushed, and didn't say anything until he was outside, hidden under the cloak. "Wizards, no. Witches, no. A Squib, yes."

Pansy hissed. "We never even thought of looking for a Squib. That was Professor Dumbledore's idea, wasn't it? Nobody sees Squibs."

Harry crossed over to Mrs. Figg's house. As he got close, she opened the door, calling for one of her cats. "Get inside, Harry," she muttered between calls. Harry went inside and waited for her.

She closed the door and steeped into the room. "Hello, Harry. Why are you sneaking out this time?" she asked wearily. "It was bad enough having to find Fletcher this morning and get a Wizard to free him."

She smiled at Harry. "Nice trap though. I was impressed, and so was Tonks."

Harry shrugged, blushing. "It was just an idea I got from watching a spider in the cupboard under the stairs."

Mrs Figg snickered. "I always thought Fletcher was a pest. Now, what did you need tonight?"

Harry was still blushing. "I need to borrow your Floo connection to make a call, and then I may need to make a quick trip to Diagon Alley. Professor Dumbledore left some things with a man named Sharpstar."

Mrs. Figg looked at Harry sharply. "Nicholas Sharpstar?" she asked, staring intently at Harry. When he nodded she frowned. "He's a great Solicitor, but he's as mad as Albus was. Be careful with him, Harry. Whatever you do, don't offend him. He's very vindictive if you cross him."

Harry frowned. "Bloody great. Why can't Wizards be calm, polite people?"

Mrs Figg smiled at him. "Where would the fun be in that?" she said. Becoming serious, she pointed at the mantle. "Floo powder is in the blue cannister."

Harry nodded and got a pinch. "Sharpstar's office," he called and stuck his head in the fireplace. He felt a second of disorientation, as if his neck was being stretched to impossible lengths and then he was looking around a very cluttered office. "Mr. Sharpstar?" he called.

"One minute," came a voice from the back of the office, "I'm in the back." A minute later a short cheerful looking man came in view. He was carrying a large book, that he set on a stool before turning towards the fireplace. "Sorry about that, I was looking something up. Now, what can I do for you?"

"My name is Harry Potter," Harry said, "you sent me a letter this morning."

Mr. Sharpstar looked at Harry, his eyes looking for the scar on his forehead. He frowned. "Mr. Potter," he said, "I would like to speak to you, but I would prefer that our first conversation be in person, so that I can identify you."

Harry nodded. "I can understand that," he said. "May I come around right now?" When Mr. Sharpstar nodded, Harry told him he'd be along in a few minutes and broke the Floo connection.

Harry told Mrs. Figg where he was going and got a handful of Floo powder. A few seconds later, he was picking himself up off the floor of Mr. Sharpstar's office. He dusted himself off while Mr. Sharpstar watched.

Harry took a minute to look around the room. It was cluttered with books, more books than Harry had ever seen anywhere except the library at Hogwarts. They covered everything, including the three desks Harry could see. The only other thing Harry noticed were the stools. He could see at least a dozen stools from where he stood, and from the strange shape of some of the book covered masses, he assumed there were more under the books. Bookcases filled to overflowing lined the walls, leaving only the three doors and a single window uncovered.

The front door was to Harry's right, flanked by the only window he could see, and both opened onto Diagon Alley. Harry studied the view, blessing his long stay in Diagon Alley during his third year. Mr. Sharpstar's office was about four blocks from the entrance to Knockturn Alley he realized, and filed that away for future reference.

To Harry's left were two doors. One appeared to lead to a conference room, as Harry could see a large table and several chairs, none of which had books on them. The other door led into a room that seemed to have even more books than the room Harry was standing in, if the bit of it he could see was any indication.

Harry turned to look at his host. Nicholas Sharpstar was barely two inches taller than Professor Flitwick, and had a smile permanently lifting his lips. He looked like a man under a cheering charm. Mr. Sharpstar was examining Harry just as intently, and finally he lifted his smile higher.

"Good evening, Mr. Potter. I am sorry about insisting on a face to face meeting, but Albus was most insistent that I give the crate only to you."

Harry assured him it wasn't a problem. "In fact, I have to apologize for showing up on such short notice," Harry said.

Mr. Sharpstar smiled wryly. "Mr. Potter, currently, you are my biggest client. In just a few weeks, you can continue to use my services or switch to another. I assure you, anytime you need to see me is not going to be inconvenient for me."

Mr. Sharpstar gave Harry a cup of tea and settled behind his desk. "So, to business, Mr. Potter." He pointed his wand at a small box on the top of one of the bookcases and cast the first spell Harry had ever learned. "Wingardium Levosa." The box floated over and landed next to Harry.

It appeared to be a school trunk, the type that Harry had to take his belongings to Hogwarts. This one though, was only fifteen centimeters long and ten centimeters high. "It's been shrunk for easy carry," Mr. Sharpstar informed him, "as well as lightened. If you touch it with your wand and say 'Lemon Drop', it will resume its normal size. I was warned to tell you to make sure you had plenty of room. It's much larger than it appears. I was also told to tell you to be careful with it, and to warn you that there are some irreplaceable items in it."

Harry carefully tucked the box into his robes as Mr. Sharpstar dug through the papers on his desk. He finally passed a parchment to Harry. "This is a list of the current Potter family holdings, along with the current incomes from your properties. I have been running your estate for five years and the income sheets for that time are here."

Harry accepted the papers and looked at them briefly. He sighed and looked at Mr. Sharpstar. "I don't know anything about business yet, so I'll just ask you one question. Since you took over the estate, has it made money?"

"In the last five years, you have seen a twenty-eight percent return on investments and all of the businesses that you have money in have shown you varying returns." He looked at another sheet. "You have investments in fourteen businesses, and controlling interests in six."

Harry nodded. "Then for now, I will leave the estate in your capable hands. I will add one thing. I want you to see about buying the Daily Prophet, or at least a controlling interest. I would prefer to own it outright. The Prophet controls public opinion and I am tired of the midget brains that run it now."

"That's going to be expensive," Harry was warned.

"I know. Try to keep it in reason. If they won't sell for an amount you consider reasonable, don't worry about it. I have a couple of other ideas." Harry had been daydreaming for a couple of years of some of the things he would do if he had the money and power. In just a couple of months he would have the money, and hopefully, the alliance would give him the power he needed.

Harry thought about some of the things he'd wanted to do. First, he had to get his side of the war out to the public without going through the biased Daily Prophet. If he couldn't change the paper, he'd turn the Quibbler into his voice. The problem was making sure that no one knew that he was financing the changes he wanted to make. "Set up a new company. Make sure it has no connection to the Potter or Black estates, and that finding out who owns it is nearly impossible, or impossible if you can."

Harry thought about what to name the new company, and something Pansy had said earlier surfaced in his mind. "Call it the 'Shades of Grey' company. If you get the Daily Prophet, buy it though that company. If not, I will have some other things for it."

Harry caught sight of a clock on the wall. "Is that time correct?" he asked.

Nicholas Sharpstar looked at it. "Reasonably so. I don't pay much attention to it."

Harry stood up. "I've got another appointment in a few minutes. It was nice meeting you, Sir. I look forward to doing business with you."

Mr. Sharpstar stood and held out his hand. "Likewise, Mr. Potter. Please, stop by anytime. In fact, we have a couple more bits of business, but they are not important until you're of age."

Harry sighed and then grinned at his Solicitor. "At this rate, I may have to put off killing Moldywart for year or two to finish all the business."

Mr. Sharpstar choked and stared at Harry. "Did you just call 'Lord Don't Name Me' Moldywart?"

Harry shrugged, He hadn't meant to use the term, but it had slipped out, and Harry was not about to admit he'd simply made an error. "Yes, it's my new nickname for him. I like it."

The older Wizard laughed as Harry disappeared in green flames. He activated a recording spell he used to make notes for himself. "Note to self: First thing tomorrow, update your will. Also prepare to take a long vacation. When Voldemort finds out what Harry is calling him, Diagon Alley is going to explode."

He thought about it some more. "Note to self: Make sure the important papers and books are well protected." He grinned and then laughed. "Moldywart, indeed."

Harry thanked Mrs. Figg for the use of her Floo and walked back to the Dursley's. He was going to be late for his meeting with Dobby and Winky if he didn't hurry. He crept up to the house only to find it dark and silent. "Of all the nights for them to go to bed early," he muttered.

The door opened, and Dobby stepped out. "I feel Harry Potter Sir, but I don't see him," he said, puzzled.

"Dobby," Harry said quietly, hoping not to startle the House Elf, "I'm wearing an Invisibility Cloak. Let's go upstairs quietly."

Dobby nodded and the three of them went upstairs. Once his door was closed Harry took off the Cloak. "Thank you for opening the door," he told Dobby. "Hello, Winky. You're looking better."

Winky ducked her head, hiding her face. "Winky is ashamed that Master Potter saw that, she is. Master Potter will not be wanting Winky."

Harry sat down as Pansy slipped out of his shirt. "Winky," he said, looking at her. "I had Dobby ask you to be so we could talk about you working for me."

Winky's head came up and her eyes were bigger than Dobby's. "Winky is a good House Elf. Not wanting pay or Holidays or anything," she began babbling.

Harry held up his hand. "Winky, are you certain you want a traditional job? I am willing to hire you, just like Dobby."

Winky shook her head so hard that Harry was afraid that it would fly off. "Winky has had enough of freedom," she said firmly. "It is not right for a House Elf to be free. We needs families."

Harry looked at Dobby, who was staring sadly at Winky. Pansy looked at Harry. "Hurry up and hire them, Potter. It's late, and I want some dinner."

Harry ignored her as he looked at Dobby. His voice was low and gentle as he spoke. "Dobby, a wise man once said you cannot free a slave, they must free themselves. All you can do is give them an example to follow."

Pansy watched, and she came to a sudden realization. Harry had introduced her to Dobby as an equal because they were all equal to him. She sighed. Preparing Harry for the families was going to be harder than she thought.

Dobby sighed, watching Winky. "Dobby can work for Harry Potter?"

Harry smiled. "Of course you can, Dobby. Will the same arraignment you had at Hogwarts suit you?"

"Yes, Harry Potter, Dobby will be highest paid House Elf in the world again." Dobby was bouncing up and down in his excitement.

Harry looked at Winky, who was watching him. "Would you like to work for me, Winky?"

"Yes, Master Potter, Winky will work hard for you." Winky waited for Harry.

Harry stared at her. "Winky, I don't know how to bond a House Elf."

Winky promptly handed Harry the clothes she'd been wearing. Where the tea cozy she was wearing by the next time Harry looked at her had come from, he didn't know. "That is all, Master Potter, Sir. Thank you, Sir. Winky will work hard for you, keep whole house very clean."

Harry looked up as he put the grimy clothes down. "Err, Winky, Dobby, there are three Muggles living here. You must not be seen by them, ever."

Dobby frowned as Winky agreed instantly. "Aren't they your Muggles, Harry Potter? Muggles can see us if they belong to a Wizard."

Harry grimaced. "They're not mine, Dobby. They hate magic and anything to do with it." Harry spread his hands out, indicating the room. "Right now, all you have to take care of is this room."

Winky looked around and Dobby looked appalled. "That is not right! Harry Potter Sir is a great Wizard. You should push the Muggles in here and have the rest of the house."

Pansy sighed, drawing Harry's attention. "While you explain this asylum to them, Potter, I'm going to get some dinner. I rather think I am going to be done first."

Pansy started to change, and Winky was there with her blouse. Harry was of two minds about that. He liked looking at her, but it was also uncomfortable in ways.

Harry introduced Pansy to Winky and Pansy sat down at the desk. She looked at the little boxes and grabbed one. She tapped it with her wand and it grew, becoming a salad.

Winky burst out crying and Dobby began banging his head on the wardrobe. "A guest in Master Potter's house is serving herself!" Winky wailed. "Master Potter will being giving me clothes!"

Harry smirked at Pansy. "You upset them, you calm them down."

Pansy spent the next five minutes assuring the two distraught House Elves that they were not bad Elfs, that harry wouldn't give them clothes and that she wouldn't say anything to Harry. She blinked at that last bit, looking at Harry, who was watching the entire scene with a smile. Finally, Pansy gave the House Elves all the food she'd ordered and promised not to serve herself again.

Harry, still wearing that huge smile, and Pansy were soon sitting down at the desk while the two House Elves bustled around serving them dinner. Harry was watching the Elves with a thoughtful look.

The House Elves had found a tablecloth and two candlesticks, and they had actual dishes and silverware instead of the throwaway utensils that had come with the meals. The food appeared on the table, just as it did at Hogwarts and Harry stared at it while Pansy started serving herself.

"I always thought that was a bit of Hogwarts magic," he said thoughtfully as he took a bread stick and ate it absently. "I wonder just what the limits of their magic are."

Pansy frowned at him, but the question started her thinking about the House Elves. Everyone she knew had one or more House Elves and they were practically invisibile which meant nobody paid them any mind. She started listing all the things she knew the three at Parkinson Manor did and frowned.

Everyone knew they had magic, but Harry, with his Muggle upbringing, was the first person Pansy knew that had asked just how much magic they had. Harry and Pansy shared a look. "I saw Dobby knock Malfoy Sr. on his rear once," Harry said thoughtfully, "and Malfoy didn't want to fight him afterward."

Pansy grinned. "Couldn't happen to a slimier git, in my opinion."

Harry disagreed. "There are two gits ahead of him. Moldywart and Snape."

Pansy looked up and stopped, transfixed by the look in Harry's eyes. There was a cold fire burning deep in his eyes, a fire that did not bode well for Snape the next time they met. Pansy had never seen Harry like this. Of course, she had not faced Voldemort with him, in Harry's first year or anytime since then.

"Harry?" she said softly. The venom in his voice made Pansy believe that he had used an Unforgivable. She vaguely pitied Snape the next time these two met. She thought about that. Honestly, she didn't pity him. She'd spent too long under his thumb.

Pansy had a number of talents, but Potions was not one of them. In fact, the only reason she'd gotten as far as she had in Potions was because Professor Snape favored the Slytherins. It had taken several sessions with him to get her an acceptable grade in Potions, and those memories were nearly as bad as some of the ones she had of the Malfoys.

"I saw Snape kill him," he said quietly, looking at something only he could see. "I saw Snape kill Professor Dumbledore. Snape owes us all a great deal, and one of these days, he's going to pay." Harry was still in his memories and didn't see Pansy staring at him.

He blinked suddenly and looked at Pansy. "In fact, you've given me an idea." The smile that found its way onto his face would have been right at home on any Slytherin's face.

Harry ate absently as he considered this new idea and how to put it into use. Pansy was watching him, and reassessing Harry. This man was not a Gryffindor. He was a Gryffindorish Slytherin and she had better remember that. Somewhere under that Gryffindor honor and bravery was a core of Slytherinism, which could be enhanced with a bit of help. She smiled. That was actually a good thing as she had been dreading making the Harry she'd only heard about see the world in shades of grey. This might not be as hard as she thought.

She looked at Harry, who was smiling at some inner vision. "Knut for your thoughts, Potter."

Harry frowned at her. "Pansy," he said, "a minute ago you called me Harry and the world didn't end. I don't think it will if you say it again, either."

Pansy frowned as she stared at him. She'd been so surprised to see anything dark in Harry that she'd called him that by mistake. She smiled inside as she decided to tease him back. "Well, since I have to call you Harry, I guess we'll just have to sleep together."

Harry stared at her goggle eyed, looking almost like Dobby. Pansy smirked at him. She loved the way Harry blushed. The flush would start around his collarbones and move up from there. The more embarrassed he was, the faster it rose and this blush was setting new records.

Harry took a deep breath and collected himself. "Um, Pansy, about your offer earlier," he stammered, looking mortified.

Pansy smiled at him, but inside she went cold. Harry was just another guy, controlled by his hormones. "Yes, Harry?" she purred.

"You're pretty and all," he said and then finished in a rush. "But we can't. I'm sorry, but I just don't feel that way about you."

Pansy stared at him in surprise, her emotions flip-flopping madly. What did he mean, 'feel that way'? Either you were aroused or you weren't, and she'd had plenty of evidence that he was. She had a minute of doubt. Was something wrong with her? Harry was the first guy to turn her down since she was fifteen, except for Blaise and he was so wrapped up in Daphne that he couldn't see anyone else.

She frowned as she had a sudden idea. "You've dated Chang and Weasley. Do you have a thing for female Quidditch players, or is it a certain red-headed player?"

Harry smiled and Pansy nearly groaned. Potter was in love. That combination of silly happiness and empty head didn't come with anything else. Harry was babbling on about her hair and her flying skill while Pansy thought. This was very bad. If the Death Eaters found out, they had a weapon that would stop Harry dead in his tracks.

Or did they? Harry might be Slytherin enough to accept the risk and act anyway. Pansy sighed. This mission was getting complicated. Her mission here was to learn about Harry and make sure that he was capable of doing the things that needed to be done to help the families. Harry Potter was the families' best chance of getting away from Voldemort with their lives and fortunes intact, but Harry was far more than a brave little Gryffindor to be used.

Ron Weasley would have been easy to manipulate, but Harry was far more than Weasley was. Pansy sighed again. She really needed to consult wiser heads about the whole mission.

She looked at Harry who was daydreaming about the youngest Weasley from the empty headed smile on his face. "Come on, Harry. Let's go to bed. We've got a long day tomorrow."

Harry blinked, and then turned to look at the narrow bed. When he turned back to Pansy, she was a snake. "It won't be too crowded."

Harry picked her up and put her on the bed. "What if I roll over on you?" he worried.

"I'll bite you."

Harry tripped over the chair and stared at Pansy in shock. "Relax, Harry, I was joking."

Harry went into the bathroom and reappeared in a set of pajamas big enough for a small tent. Not more than a four person tent, Pansy thought. She was fairly certain they could have been used as the sheets on the bed fairly easily. She surveyed them distastefully. "Harry, tomorrow we shop. When we get back, you will get rid of every scrap of cloth those slimy gits gave you, understood?"

"Pansy, I do have to have some acceptable Muggle wear. Do you know anything about Muggle fashions?"

"No, but Granger will be there, and I bet she does."

Harry sighed. "Fine, we'll shop." Harry sounded as if he'd agreed to spend the day in Azkaban.

He laid down on the bed and Pansy coiled up close enough to feel his body heat. This wasn't a bad way to sleep, she thought sluggishly as she drifted off to sleep.

Harry worried about rolling over on Pansy for a minute and then relaxed. He couldn't more around too much or he'd have fallen out of this narrow bed long ago. He smiled sleepily at a thought. He never would have believed any prophecy that said the first girl he would sleep with was Pansy Parkinson.


	3. Deception, Decisions and Desires

_A/N: Some portions of this story were inspired by Jeconais' White Knight, Grey Queen story, and now that Altizerhk has reminded me where I read that story and who wrote it, I offer Jeconais and his story the acclaim and Kudos they both deserve. I would tell you to go read Jeconais' offerings on but that would simply reduce the number of readers I have._

**_Harry Potter and the Shades of Grey_**

**_Chapter three_**

**_Deception, Decisions and Desires_**

Harry Potter woke up and raised his head to look over something at the clock on his night stand. It would ring in a few minutes and he laid back, prepared to get that few more minutes of sleep. Before he could drift off, the sleep fogging his mind cleared in a rush. What was in his bed that he'd have to look over?

He blinked and became aware of several things at once. First, there was a warm body in his bed, one that was not his. It was soft and female though, and he tried to pull away as a particular portion of his anatomy began to show its appreciation for waking up with a nearly naked female spooned up in front of him. One of his arms was being used as a pillow, and the other hand apparently had private ambitions to be a bra, as it was cupping a breast.

Harry frowned as he tried to think. Pansy had been a snake when they went to sleep last night, so why was she a girl this morning? A vague memory intruded then, of Pansy getting up early in the morning to use the toilet. Harry quickly figured out that snakes are not built to use the loo, so she must have changed into herself. Why hadn't she changed back?

Harry was slightly rattled at finding a nude female in his bed, so the fact that he was talking aloud should not have surprised him. Pansy's answering his question though, did surprise him. "Because I was still half asleep, and changing in that condition might have ended with me being a snake thing in need of St. Mungo."

"Oh," Harry said as he tried to get up.

"Freeze," said Pansy, "you're warm and I am using this arm as a pillow until that alarm goes off. So you can just stay there."

Harry then tried to move the other hand without being obvious, but Pansy stopped him. "Potter," she said in an annoyed tone, "you're going to have to get over this, this thing you have about nudity and sex. They are not the same thing. If you're going to deal with the families, you're going to have to learn that. Casual nudity is common in three of the houses and accepted in the other two."

Pansy turned over, so they were face to face. "Sex is also more common than in other places, but a nude woman doesn't mean she wants to have sex with you, it simply means she's not wearing any clothes. Now, if she comes up and does this," Pansy reached between them and stroked his length gently, "she does want to have sex with you."

Harry gasped as Pansy's hand encircled him for the briefest instant. Pansy stopped and let him go. It was a pity Harry had that love thing going on. His body was trim, he was neither fat nor soft and he was a nice length as well. He'd make some girl a good lover with some practice.

Pansy looked at him. Harry was staring at her intently and without those glasses of his in the way, his eyes were just gorgeous. Harry pulled her closer, hugging her gently. She could feel his male excitement but since he was determinedly ignoring it she did as well.

The alarm went off and Harry shut it off without letting her go. He looked at her again and smiled softly. "Happy birthday," he said and kissed her forehead. Pansy rolled her eyes. What was she, twelve, for Merlin's sake? It made no impression on Harry though, as he was getting up and grabbing his robe. "I'm going to grab a shower."

Harry went out of the room, leaving Pansy snickering. A shower. Right. Soap wasn't the only thing he was going to be grabbing. She got up and started dressing.

As she was dressing, an owl rapped on the window and Pansy opened it to find several owls waiting patiently. She let them in and looked at their mail. Only one was addressed to Harry. The rest were from various members of her family, carrying birthday cards and small gifts.

She frowned as she took the gifts. Normally, owls left after delivering their letters but these owls appeared to be waiting for something. Pansy remembered Harry's habit with the owls. "Dobby," she called softly.

Dobby appeared silently. "Missy Parkson called Dobby?"

"Dobby, could you find me a dish of water for the owls?" Pansy looked at the owls. "And do you know where Harry keeps the owl treats?" Dobby nodded and handed her some treats from the bottom drawer of the desk. He disappeared again and was back quickly with a bowl of water. When all the owls were watered and given a treat, Pansy had one extra left over, or so she thought until Hedwig hooted mournfully at her. "Sorry. You're so quiet I forgot you were there." She gave the last treat to Hedwig and finished dressing as she thought about her plan for the day.

Pansy sat down and began planning her attack on the filthy mice downstairs. She was fingering her wand and smiling a slow evil Slytherin smile. Harry's voice came as a complete surprise. "People who smile like that have usually just done something bad to me, or are about to." Harry spoke calmly, but he had his wand in his hand and was watching her closely.

Pansy looked at him, and was very careful not to point her wand in his direction. Pansy was also careful not to move very fast, since she was certain that Harry would hex first right now and ask questions later. "Harry, I need you intact, sane and healthy to save my family. Right now, you are safer with me than you are with Granger or Weasley. I will not allow you to be hurt, even in a good cause."

Pansy sighed as Harry nodded and relaxed. "That includes those scum downstairs. I am an adult today, and we're about to do something about them." Pansy smirked again.

Harry sighed. "I am torn here," he said. "They are family of a sort, but they are also bigoted gits." He thought about it for a minute. "You cannot use an Unforgivable or kill them."

Pansy smiled. "I wasn't planning on it. Here's what we're going to do." Pansy told him what she'd thought of and how she wanted to work their deception. "That way, we don't even have to cast any magic." Harry and Pansy got ready to go to Diagon Alley and waited.

They didn't have to wait long before Vernon was yelling for Harry to start breakfast. Pansy cast a glamour on herself to appear ten years older and transfigured Harry's sleep shirt into a clipboard. She led the way downstairs and Harry followed her, fighting to keep a completely inappropriate grin off of his face.

Pansy walked into the kitchen and looked around. "Humph." she said, and made a note on the clipboard. She looked at the Dursleys. "Vernon Dursley?" she inquired in a frosty tone.

"I'm Vernon Dursley," Uncle Vernon said. "Who might you be, Miss?"

"I am Susan Bones, a caseworker from the Child Advocacy Centre. I have been assigned to investigate complaints of child abuse regarding one Harry Potter, a resident at this address."

Vernon paled, even as he glared at Harry. "Miss Bones, " he said, "I don't know what Harry has been telling you,"

"Mr. Potter hasn't told me anything. He has been sullen and uncommunicative. That condition is usually caused by one of two things. Either he is a troubled child, but smart enough not to get caught lying or he's been abused on a regular basis and doesn't want to admit it." She looked at Harry and Vernon. "I am going to ask everyone a few questions. I expect honest answers. If I am not happy with the answers, the police will be here shortly to take one of you away."

Harry hid his smile by opening the refrigerator and pouring himself a large glass of milk. He took three more to the people sitting around the table. When he handed Uncle Vernon his, Harry muttered, "She came out of nowhere this morning. I don't know her, but she said something about a complaint by the neighbours."

Vernon frowned, but Pansy started asking them questions then and he couldn't question Harry. After asking a few questions of the Dursleys, she turned to Harry. "Describe your chores around the house, Mr. Potter." Harry described all the things he did each day while Pansy made notes on the clipboard. When he was done, she looked at Dudley. "Mr. Dursley, please tell me what chores you do."

Dudley blinked. "I don't have chores," he whined.

Pansy, guided by the things Harry had told her the day before, asked a number of questions that had the Dursleys pale and sweating by the time she was done. She made a final note on her clipboard and frowned at it. "Mr. Potter, come with me."

She looked at the Dursleys before she took Harry into the hall. "I would hate to catch you trying to listen to what I talk about with Harry."

They went into the hall where Harry grinned at Pansy. "Twenty points to Slytherin, Parkinson, for an excellent acting job."

Pansy smirked. "Thank you, Harry, but you can use my first name. You've done it before and the world didn't end." She waited a few more minutes and they went back into the dining room.

Pansy frowned at the adult Dursleys. "I have enough information to start an investigation into Harry's life here and I am certain that I could get a conviction on charges of child abuse stretching as far back as Harry's memory goes." She frowned at Harry. "Mr. Potter, however, seems to think that staying here until his birthday would be better than entering the state home at this point. I do not agree, but I am willing to give him a chance."

She looked at the Dursleys. "This is what is going to happen. I will take Harry with me right now and get him a job based on the assessment test I will give him today. He will be going to that job every day for the rest of the summer. I will assign a trainee to pick him up every morning and bring him back at the end of the day. Mr. Potter will not do all the chores anymore, nor will you abuse him in any manner, or I will have you arrested. Is that understood?"

Vernon and Petunia Dursley nodded silently. "Good. Mr. Potter, we have things to do. Come with me so we can find out what you can do. Later, I'll get your school records."

Harry and Pansy went out into the hall. "Hold on one minute please, Miss Bones."

Harry went back into the other room. He put on a panicked expression. "What's an assessment test? That's some Muggle thing, isn't it? Like the Ordinary Wizard Levels or Nastily Exhausting Wizard Tests? How am I going to explain that I've never been to a Muggle school?"

"Mr. Potter, I do have other business."

"Coming, Miss Bones." With one last look at the Dursleys, Harry went back into the hall and the two of them left, heading for Mrs. Figg's Floo connection.

As they listened to the front door close, Vernon and Petunia Dursley stared at each other. "Petunia, when your sister went to that school, did she learn anything useful?" Vernon asked his wife.

Petunia thought back. "Lots of things," she said bitterly, "as long as she could use magic." She thought for a minute. "What do we tell her after he fails that test? She'll be around after his school records."

"But," Uncle Vernon started to say something and stopped. As far as the Muggle world was concerned, Harry Potter had simply stopped attending school when he was ten. "We bluff, delay and hide until he's of age and we don't have to deal with either of them again."

At Mrs. Figg's house, she opened the door as Harry approached. "At least you're out in the daylight this time. Come in, Harry, and bring your friend."

The two teenagers stepped inside and Mrs. Figg stared at Pansy thoughtfully. "I should know you. You're too young to be Mirabella, but too old to be Pansy."

Pansy stared at her, and then remembered the glamour she was under. She ended the glamour and Mrs. Figg nodded. "You're the image of your grandmother. You would be the friend that Alastair said would be with Harry, I take it?"

Pansy nodded. "Yes, I will be working closely with Harry for a few days." She studied Mrs. Figg with a frown. "You sound as if you're familiar with my family, but I don't know you, or of you."

Mrs. Figg smiled sadly. "I was born into the families, but most of them dropped me after my condition was proven. Your grandmother continued to correspond with me until she got married. Her mother hated it, which was the reason she did it. She and I were third cousins on our fathers side."

Pansy frowned. "I don't remember any Figg on the family line."

Mrs. Figg smiled again. "Of course not, Figg is my married name. My maiden name was Montague, from the cadet branch, out of Madison Montague."

Pansy nodded. "I know the line." Harry spent the next five minutes staring at the two women as they discussed family lines and relatives. Pansy finally looked at him. "You have no idea what we're talking about, do you?"

Harry shook his head. "Not a clue," he confessed. "You sound a lot like Mrs. Figg does when she's talking about the breeding of her cats though."

Mrs. Figg laughed. "It might sounds the same Harry, but I wouldn't tell anyone else that. Most of the older families take great pride in knowing exactly where they stand in relation to everyone else, and that would be an insult."

Pansy sighed. "Training Harry is going to take forever," she said in mock sadness. "He's been left in the dark for far too long. Harry, you are aware that while your mother was a Muggleborn, you're father was from one of the old families, and that people are going to expect you to know your family lines on his side?"

Harry blinked. He'd known that his father was from an old wizard family, but somehow, he'd never thought of the fact that he might have family in the older families. He remembered the tapestry in the Black Mansion and had a horrible thought. "Please tell me I'm not related to the Malfoys."

Pansy shrugged. "I've never studied your family, so I don't know. We can find out easily enough though."

Harry sighed. "I hope not. That would be just disgusting." He smirked. "I would hate to think that one of my ancestors was married to a ferret." He turned serious. "That's for later though. Right now, we have things to do." He explained to Mrs. Figg what they had planned for the day. "Who's my minder today?"

Mrs. Figg thought for a minute. "At seven, Mr. Kingsbury will be taking over. Shall I assume that you'd prefer that he stayed out of sight?"

Harry chewed on his lip. "He can join us, or stay out of sight, as he prefers." Harry was about to say something else when someone knocked at the door.

Mrs. Figg went to the door and came back a minute later with Tonks. "Wotcher, Harry," she said cheerfully before seeing Pansy. Tonks' eyes went narrow and she started to say something. Before she got it out, she froze, staring at Pansy. "You're the delegate?"

Pansy nodded. "I am."

Tonks shook her head, thinking about who Pansy was, and what families were aligned with her family. "I will give you your chance, Miss. Parkinson," she said coldly, "but you'd better be on your best behaviour. I know what your family has been doing for the last twenty years, and who your friends are." She looked at Harry. "Kingsbury has been called into work, so I'm going to be minding you today Harry. I hope you don't mind."

Harry grinned. "Not at all. In fact, you can even come with us on two conditions. First, you become a form that will fit in, and second, anything you hear today doesn't get told to anyone, unless I say it's ok."

Tonks frowned. "Harry, that depends on what I hear. There are some things I simply can't ignore."

Harry stared at her. "Tonks," he said firmly but quietly, "I am the only person that knows what Professor Dumbledore had in mind, and what needs to be done. The Order can work with me, which I would prefer, or they can be left behind as I make my own team. Either way, I will lead."

Harry sighed. "In fact, we need to have an Order meeting. See if you can get everyone except Fletcher together for a meeting sometime this week. I will explain why my attitude has changed and tell everyone as much as I can then."

Tonks frowned at Harry, the wheels turning in her head. "Most of the Order has made some guesses, Harry. Professor Dumbledore may not have told us everything, but most of us have brains, and we think we've guessed most of it by now. It will be nice to find out how close we were though." She looked at Harry compassionately. "It's going to come down to you and him, isn't it? That was the only reason we could think of for Albus to spend so much time and energy protecting you."

Harry nodded slowly. "Yes. But you'll have to wait for the meeting to find out details, as we have other things to do today."

The three of them Flooed to the Leaky Cauldron, with Tonks going first, and then Pansy. As Harry was about to step into the fireplace, Mrs. Figg stopped him. "Harry, watch out for Pansy. She will put her family first, no matter who else gets hurt, and if she's like most of her family, she will do things that you wouldn't to achieve her goals."

Harry looked at Mrs. Figg. "I knew she would go places I wouldn't, but I am being careful The problem is walking that fine line between trust and foolishness. Professor Dumbledore did it, and he was right in one case, and wrong in another." He looked at Mrs. Figg. "To be honest, if this was only about me, I'd have told her no. The families she represents can seriously hurt Moldywart though, and that will save so many lives." Harry frowned. "I wish I had Professor Dumbledore's experience, but I don't. All I have to go by is his example, and he always gave a person their chance."

Mrs. Figg nodded. "Everyone deserves a chance to do the right thing. Albus believed that, and so do I. You just remember, Harry, that any member of the Windenmere group is going to look after family first."

Harry frowned at her. "What is a Windenmere?" he asked curiously.

Mrs. Figg shook her head. "You don't have time right now, Harry. I'll tell you about them when you get back tonight. Basically, they're a group of families that hold certain beliefs and customs. It's those beliefs and customs that make them different."

Harry nodded. "One more question, before I go. Are the Windenmere families good or bad?"

Mrs. Figg frowned. "Neither, actually. They are Windenmere first, anything else afterwards."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "I see. Thank you for the information." He used the Floo, ending up on his back in the Leaky Cauldron. He stood up to see two girls smirking at him.

Tonks had assumed the form of a girl about Harry's age, with brown hair and eyes. "Even I can walk out of a Floo connection, Harry."

Harry ignored her pointedly. "I think it's time for breakfast." The three of them ate, discussing their plans for the day. Harry wanted to meet with Hermione, go to Gringotts to drop off his box, then to the Ministry for Pansy to talk to her contact, and then to Weasley Wizard Wheezes for a chat with Fred and George. Pansy cleared her throat, staring at Harry. He sighed. "Yes, Pansy, we'll going shopping as well."

Tonks raised an eyebrow. "Training him up right, are you?"

Pansy smirked. "Someone has to. How Granger and Weasley allowed him to go around dressed like this for all these years is beyond me."

While they chatted after finishing breakfast, Harry took his glasses off, wiping them with a clean napkin. Pansy stared at him, frowning. "What are you doing, Harry?"

Harry frowned at her in turn. "They're getting dirty, I'm cleaning them off," he said, speaking slowly, as if to a not too bright child.

Pansy stared at him, and suddenly swore under her breath. "Come with me, Harry." She stood up and paid for breakfast, not even waiting for her change. She led them into Diagon Alley, and took a small side street just behind the Leaky Cauldron. "I should have thought of this, I swear." she was muttering as she stopped in front of a small shop.

Harry looked at the shop as she started inside. "Ortha's Optics," he read and followed Pansy inside.

"Hullo," said the man inside, "what can I do for you today?" Harry looked at the man standing in the back of the store. He was tall and thin, with white hair and a kindly look. Harry thought he looked like a thin St. Nick. Harry looked around the store with interest. One wall had hundreds of frames on it, while the opposite wall had specialty frames. There were glasses for people with one eye, and four eyes, as well as glasses for people with eyes in the back of their head.

Pansy pointed at Harry. "This poor boy has been Muggle raised, and has never had a proper eye examination or Wizard glasses."

"Well, we can't have that, now can we?" The man looked at Harry, and blinked. "Upon my soul," he said, "You favour your father, lad."

Harry stared at him. "You knew my father?"

"Not well," the man admitted. "Young James was only in here twice, once to get his glasses, and once more, to get some charms laid on them." He chuckled. "The stories I can tell you about your grandfather, though. We were in Hogwarts together, and until the Weasley twins' second year, we held the single year detention record." The older Wizard frowned for a minute. "I was shocked to hear of your father's passing, and saddened. He was a good man."

While he talked, the older Wizard was doing things to a pair of glasses that were even bigger than Professor Trelaney's spectacles. "Here you are, lad, put these on for a minute."

Harry handed his glasses to Pansy and put on the odd glasses. He blinked as the glasses flashed a light in his eyes, and then started flashing pictures that lasted just a split second in front of his eyes. When the slide show ended, the lenses changed colour several times, and then went dark. Harry handed the glasses to the man and watched him curiously.

The shopkeeper laid the frames on a parchment and tapped them with his wand. Words began forming under the frames and the man read the parchment carefully. He looked up when he was done. "Well, lad, I've got good news and bad news. You're near-sighted, meaning you see things close up better than you do far away and we can fix that with a series of potions. However, the full course will take about two months, and your vision will be blurry the entire time."

Harry frowned. He liked the idea of being able to see without glasses, but two months of effective blindness simply wasn't possible right now. "Can you do that later?" he asked hopefully, "sometime when I don't have someone trying to kill me every year?"

The other Wizard looked startled. "Quite. I see your point." He read the parchment again. "Yes, we can do it anytime before you turn twenty-one or so without a problem. After that, it may not be as effective, and there is the possibility that it won't work at all."

Harry smiled. "If I haven't dealt with Riddle by then, I think I'll have other problems to think about." Harry frowned, looking at the other Wizard. "I'm sorry, but I don't think I got your name."

"Hmm," the other man said with a grin, "maybe that's because I didn't give you my name. You can call me," the old Wizard thought for a second, "Roger."

Harry stared at him and smiled whimsically. "When I get back to Hogwarts, will I find the name Roger on any detention records?"

'Roger' chuckled. "I can't say to that, but I can say it won't be paired with Jeremy Potter."

The old Wizard, whom Harry was beginning to think was a bit strange, crossed over to the wall with all the frames on it. "Right now, since you'll need glasses and since unlike your wand, you can choose your glasses, why don't you pick out a pair?"

Harry moved to stand next to the shopkeeper. "How did you and my grandfather set the detention record anyway?" he asked, as he started examining the frames.

"In our sixth year, we set out to do something that still hasn't been done, not to this day. We tried to play an individual prank on every person in school." He smiled in nostalgia. "Those were the days, bless me."

Harry smiled as he looked at the frames. Roger had old wooden frames, and frames from every era of Muggle history, including some striking modern frames and rimless frames. Finally he sighed, and turned to Roger. "I think I'll keep the ones I have. I'm used to them and switching my frames might alert people that I have Wizard glasses."

The old Wizard nodded and asked to see Harry's glasses. He took them to his desk and examined them in silence for a few minutes. "I'm sorry, but I can't use these frames. These Muggle frames are too weak to hold magic, and to be honest, I'm not certain how you've managed to fix them as many times as you have." He looked at Harry. "I'll have to make a new pair from scratch."

Harry sighed. "How long will that take?" he asked, expecting the answer to be a couple of weeks.

"Mm, a couple of hours to make the frames, and then it depends on how many and what type of charms you want on them."

"What sorts of charms are available?" Harry asked with interest.

Roger smiled and handed Harry a scroll. "Any of these that you're willing to pay for."

Harry looked at the list. An unbreakable charm, to keep them from being broken for six Galleons, that was a must, as was the impervious charm to keep them clean. A charm to keep other people from removing them, and one to keep them from falling off, yes, those would be good.

As Harry read down the list, he began to find more exotic charms. Charms to see invisible things, which would explain how Professor Dumbledore could see him under the cloak, one to let him see through solid objects and more. Here was one to allow him to see an Animage in their animal form, and one to allow him to see auras.

He blinked in surprise at some of them. Why would anyone want a charm to allow them to see Thestrals, or Will o' Wisps? Finally, Harry picked out the charms he wanted and pointed them out to Roger silently. Roger nodded and wrote the list down, tucking the paper into his robes after reading it.

Roger did some figuring and looked at Harry. "I'll have the glasses done in about nine hours, so if you'll come back around five, we'll do the final fitting." He handed Harry a slip of paper. "There's the full price, lad. If you need to make payments, we can work something out."

Harry looked at the paper. "It's not a problem," he assured Roger, "I'll bring it along tonight."

Harry bid the eccentric old Wizard goodbye and led Tonks and Pansy out. Tonks hadn't knocked anything over while Harry was busy, but she did hit a display as they walked out. She blushed as Roger waved off her attempts to pick the glasses up.

As they walked toward the main section of Diagon Alley, Pansy looked at Harry. "So, Harry, what sorts of charms did you get? They must have been serious if he thought you might need to make payments."

Harry smirked at her. "Nosy little Slytherin, aren't you?"

Pansy stared at him and got a sly smile. "Actually, I think poking their nose into everything is a Gryffindor trait, Mr. I-Found-Out-What-Was-On-The-Third-Floor."

Harry smiled at her reference to his first year as Pansy's smile turned into a smirk. "Keeping secrets, now that's a Slytherin thing. What house were you in?"

Harry's mood changed suddenly. Pansy was only teasing and was unprepared for the dark shadow that passed over Harry's face. "The Sorting Hat wanted to place me in Slytherin. 'You could be great, you know, and Slytherin will help you along the way', or something simular."

Pansy stared at him. "So why aren't you a Slytherin? I thought the Sorting Hat made that decision."

"It does," Harry agreed, "but I begged it to put me anywhere but Slytherin. You see, I'd met Ron, whom I liked, and Malfoy, who I didn't like." He grinned at Pansy. "If I had met a young girl, and she was as nice as she is now, who went to Slytherin just before I was sorted, I might be a Slytherin now."

Pansy blinked as she walked toward the Leaky Cauldron, where they were to meet Hermione. "I did go just before you, didn't I?" She thought about it as she walked. "I sometimes wonder," she mused, "how much different we'd be today, if the Sorting had been different. Who would you be, if you'd been a Slytherin?"

Harry frowned as he thought about it. "Given that Snape hated me before I ever got to Hogwarts, I rather think I'd be a bitter, angry boy, with no real friends and no reason to have turned down Riddle's offer that first year, to join him. I'd be rich and immortal, by way of the Philosopher's Stone, and Lord Voldemort's heir."

Pansy stared at Harry in shock. "Surely you don't think so little of yourself, Harry?"

Tonks started to say something, but Harry spoke first. "Pansy, most of what I did that first year, was because I had friends for the first time. If I had been in Slytherin, a half-blood and Muggle raised, hated by the House head, how many Slytherins would have befriended me?"

Pansy frowned, but finally admitted, "no one probably. We all wanted to be at the top, and annoying Snape was not a good way to get there."

Harry, who had not expected any other answer, nodded. "Now, put yourself in my shoes. You know the situation I came from. You know what my life there was like. Now, I come to Hogwarts, and I get the same thing, hated and abused here as well as there. No friends in the other houses either, because of Slytherin's reputation and my shyness." Harry turned his head to look at Pansy. "Now, here comes a man, promising to be my friend, to train me in everything I need to know, and to make me rich and immortal in the bargain. We would have everything we could take. What would you do, under those circumstances?"

Pansy sighed. "I would have taken that deal," she admitted. "But I thought you were better than that."

Harry shook his head. "Hermione, Ron, Hagrid, even Neville and Fred and George taught me a lot about friendship and loyalty that first year, before Voldemort spoke to me. With those examples, I turned him down. Without those examples, I don't know that I would do the same."

Pansy looked at Harry, reading the shadows that crossed his face. "I think you would have done it anyway. There's something in you that is not in most of the Slytherins I know." She thought about it. "Such a small thing, to change the course of events. Just because you didn't like Malfoy."

Harry smiled wryly. "A great thing, in my rather biassed opinion."

"Harry!" All three of them turned at the called, but Harry had recognized the voice instantly. How could he not? Hermione had been a major part of his life for six years.

Hermione hugged Harry, but her attention was on the two girls with him. One of them had a stray lock of pink hair peeping out from behind one ear and Hermione assumed that was Tonks. The other one, she didn't know. "Hello, Harry," Hermione said and looked at Tonks. "Hello Tonks. Minding Harry today?"

While she greeted the first two, she was cataloguing the stranger. She thought about what she'd seen and then blinked. She ran through her deductions again and was forced to believe them. Hermione, being Hermione though, just had to test them. "Hello, Parkinson. Are you the delegate for whatever Harry has planned with the Death Eaters?"

Pansy stared at Hermione. "What is with you Gryffindors?" she complained. "First Harry, and now you, both see right through my glamour."

Hermione smiled. "You're young, about our age, and Harry isn't pushing you off, which means he knows you. He's planning on doing something to Voldemort involving his followers, and most of them are in Slytherin. There simply are not that many girls in Slytherin in our year, and you made one mistake with your glamour. You still have the same hairstyle you had at Hogwarts. Harry probably didn't even notice, being a guy."

Pansy shook her head in wonder. "How in Merlin's name did you ever end up in Gryffindor? You are the most Ravenclawish Ravenclaw I ever met."

Harry looked at Hermione thoughtfully. "Because her courage matches that scary intelligence."

Hermione blushed, stammering a denial. Pansy watched the byplay with a frown. There was something going on here. She remained quiet as Hermione and Harry talked for a couple of minutes, and then Hermione stopped the small talk in her normal way. "Harry, where are we going to go to talk about this? I assume you want to stay out of sight."

Harry shook his head slowly. "No, I don't, actually," he said, surprising all three girls with him. "In fact, I want to be seen in Diagon Alley every day, or as often as possible this summer."

He started toward the Leaky Cauldron again, throwing a glance over his shoulder at Tonks. "We'll get a corner table from Tom, and convince some Auror or another to cast a couple of charms over us."

Tonks missed the entire comment, causing Harry to look at her. He suddenly realized that she'd been very quiet for quite some time now. "Tonks?" he asked quietly, "Something wrong?"

Tonks looked at him. "I don't know, Harry. What is there about your family life that Pansy knows and I don't?"

Harry frowned. "How much do you know about the Dursleys?"

Tonks frowned. "I know that we had a talk with them, and that they don't like you much, but you seemed to be implying that it goes further than that."

Pansy hissed, her anger at the Dursleys flaring up again. "Those slimy gits."

Harry touched her arm. "Parkinson!" he said, quietly but firmly. When Pansy turned startled eyes his way, he shook his head. "Not here, not now. You may talk to her later."

Pansy looked around. They were just passing Gringotts and there were a dozen or more Wizards near by. Pansy blushed. Of course Harry wouldn't want his life with the Dursleys to become common knowledge.

Harry looked at the bank. "As long as we are here, I need to drop off the box and get some money." He made a face at Pansy. "I have the feeling that someone is going to use a great deal of my money today."

Pansy smiled smugly. She leaned over and whispered something in Hermione's ear. Hermione looked surprised for a minute and then intrigued. Harry just sighed and led them into the bank.

Inside they waited in line until Harry could tell the Goblin at the counter that he wanted to access his vault. Another Goblin led them to the carts Harry remembered and they got into it. The trip was every bit as fast and wild as Harry remembered, and it only took a minute to reach Harry's vault.

The Goblin opened the door and Harry stepped inside. He asked Hermione to count out seven hundred and sixty-eight Galleons for his glasses and crossed to an open section of floor. He set the box down and tapped it with his wand, saying "Lemon Drops."

The box expanded rapidly, growing to nearly twice the size of Harry's school chest. He bent down and opened it. Inside, he saw a tray on hinges that would allow it to be moved out of the way. There was a letter with a small glowing dot on it and two glass balls, both of which were glowing slightly. One was a pale blue light and the other was a white light and twice as bright as the blue one.

The only other thing in that tray was Professor Dumbledore's Pensieve, with its levels lowered dramatically since the last time Harry had seen it. Harry picked up the letter, noting it was addressed to him as he opened it.

_Dear Harry,_

_Since you are reading this letter, I must be off on the next great adventure. Regrettable, but entirely too likely for me not to take certain precautions. I hope you do not blame yourself for my passing. It is not your fault Harry, unless you turned to Voldemort and cast the curse that killed me yourself._

_In this box you will find certain objects to help you do what you must do. Be careful with them, Harry. Almost all of them can be used for good or evil, depending on who uses them. A case in point are the PolyJuice Potions. You used one once in a good cause, but I am sure you remember when it was also used in furtherance of evil. Along with the PolyJuice are a few other Potions that might be needed in an instant, but take a great deal of time to brew._

_One of the things you have in the box is Godric Gryffindor's sword. I suggest you keep it close when you go after Tom. Professor McGonagall knows you have that sword and I would suggest that you bring it back to Hogwarts with you for your seventh year._

_I know you are probably thinking about dropping out of school at this point, Harry, but I would ask you to reconsider that path. I have a number of reasons for that, not the least of which is how it will affect your friends._

_Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley will follow you and while your fame and reputation will make your NEWTs less than important for most things, they should have theirs. You should take your NEWTs also. They are required for any Ministry position as well as advancement in the Wizengamot. I know that those things do not seem important to you right now, but in the decades to come it could mean a lot to you._

_Also, I would ask you to expand the DA this year, and open it to anyone that wishes to enter. The Houses need to join together, and your club is the school's best chance to do that. I know that you do not trust the members of Slytherin House, but they deserve a chance to prove themselves, just as anyone else does._

_You have seen my Pensieve. In it is every memory I have of Tom, both while he was at school, and the things I learned about him later. You may find something I missed, or something may change, making some of the memories worth something._

_In the tray with the pensieve are two glass balls. Both of them hold a useful skill, but you should think long and hard before you use them. They will change the way you see people. The blue one contains my skills and knowledge of Occemency and Legilimency. Voldemort will not be able to invade your mind at all, but skills that strong have a drawback. Things people think, in the heat of passion, in fear or anger, in lust or jealousy will come to you, as clearly as if they had shouted them. Most of the time, they would never say those things, keeping them private, never to be known. The knowledge of those private thoughts will change the way you think about that person though, so think about using those skills very carefully._

_The white globe is a type of vision. Quite simular to the Aura sight, it will allow you to see a nimbus around people. That nimbus will range from pure white to utter black, with many shades of grey in between. I have never seen either extreme in my life, and I doubt you will either. This sight is merely a tool, showing you how good a person is, by your standards. I have different standards than you do, I am sure and Miss Granger would be different from both of us. A person's shades do not mean that they cannot or will not do a particular action, it merely allows you to judge their relative goodness. I cannot explain more about it at this time, but if you choose to use that ball, read this letter again._

_I have said enough for now, Harry. Fawkes is with a friend, and you can expect to see him if certain events come to pass. Other than that, this is the last time you will hear from me. I want you to know that I remember you quite fondly, and that I hope to see you many years from now, when you embark on the next great adventure._

_Professor Albus Dumbledore_

_PS. I have left you a few books. I suggest you allow Miss Granger to peruse them._

_AD_

Harry read the note and spent a few minutes thinking about what it had said. When he found his thoughts running in circles, he shook his head and tucked the letter into his shirt. He lifted the tray out and looked in the tray under it. There were two rows of small books, one of which had a small glowing dot on it.

Harry pulled it out of its place and watched as it started to grow, quickly becoming a familiar book. He read the title and grinned. "Hermione, I think this book is meant for you."

Hermione walked over and took the book from Harry. She read the title.

"Hogwarts, A History," she read, and then read the smaller subtitle under that. "The Uncut Version, not for the Board of Governors or the Parents of Current Students."

Hermione opened the book and began to read. "Harry," she said absently a minute later, "there are eight secret ways to Hogsmeade, and one magical door that takes you to Diagon Alley."

Harry smiled. "Hermione, don't lose that book, or I won't let you look at the rest of them."

Hermione closed the book, noting that the sub-title had become a Hogwarts crest and that the book looked exactly like her copy, which was suitable for parents and the Board of Governors apparently. She looked in the tray and read a few of the titles. "Do you know what you have here, Harry? This is Professor Dumbledore's private library. You have some of the rarest books in the world here." She looked at him. "You will let me read all of these."

Harry stared at her. That had not been a request. Harry started to say something and stopped. "Professor Dumbledore said the same thing, and I am certainly not arguing with you about it."

Harry lifted out that tray and looked at the one beneath it. It was also full of books and he lifted it out to find a tray of potions. Vertiserum, Polyjuice potion, Draught of Living Death, dozens of potions Harry recognized and some he didn't.

None of them had the little glowing dot that seemed to mean Harry should look at an item, so he lifted out the potions tray. Under it was a tray with several items and many of them had those little spots of light.

Harry lifted one of them out. It turned out to be two knives, both with oddly curved blades and some sort of snakeskin sheaths. Attached to the knives was a card.

_After you found the Chamber of Secrets, I found a way into it. These knives and many of the items with them are made from the remains of the Basilisk you slew in your second year. Basilisk items have an advantage over other items for certain people. Animagi can carry them and they transform easily, not requiring the training and practice normally needed to carry foreign objects._

Harry grinned as he finished the note. He looked at Pansy, standing in the doorway. "Here, Pansy. Happy Birthday." He stood up and handed Pansy one of the knives and the note. He turned and was lifting out the next item with a glow on it when a human missile rolled him into a pile of Galleons.

Hermione saw the sudden motion and looked up from her book. Pansy had Harry pinned and was kissing him quite thoroughly. Hermione glared at Pansy for a second and then saw the note. She picked it up and read it. When she was done, she smirked. "Parkinson, you've got the wrong idea."

Pansy stopped kissing Harry and waved the knife at Hermione. "I've got the evidence right here."

Hermione shook her head. "He's Muggle raised, remember? He doesn't know that custom."

Pansy frowned at Hermione and turned to Harry. "Is that true?"

Harry blinked, both at the topic and the rather interesting sensations of having been kissed quite expertly. "I gave you a birthday gift, one I thought you would like," he said carefully.

Pansy sighed. "I'm sorry, Harry, but I can't take this. You may want to talk to Hermione before you try to give one of them away again." She handed the knife back to Harry.

Harry closed her fingers over the knife. "Pansy, I gave an ally a gift. You can lose it, throw it away or eat it, but you may not give it back."

Pansy looked at the knife, torn between custom and desire. "I'll make you a deal, Harry. You show that other knife and that note to Ginny Weasley, then tell her where the other knife is. If she doesn't mind, then I will accept the gift."

Harry frowned at her, but before he could say anything, Hermione spoke. "One of the old Wizard customs is that if you slay a monster, like a Basilisk and you have matching items made from it, you only give one away, and only to your mate, or intended mate. Giving that to Pansy was, in her eyes, a proposal of marriage."

Harry stared at the two girls, flabbergasted. "Wizards are barking mad," he said in a stunned tone. He shook his head. "Pansy, if I ever propose to you, it will be done right, with a speech and a ring, after I have courted you and spoken to your father."

Pansy looked at him oddly. "You're a romantic, Harry," she accused.

"Call it what you will," Harry said, "but some things have to be done right, and this is one of them."

Hermione hugged him, looking at Pansy. "You leave him alone about this," Hermione said. "Harry's friends like him just the way he is about this."

Pansy started to say something and then stopped, eyeing Hermione speculatively. Harry turned back to the box and missed the short conversation Hermione and Pansy had, consisting entirely of looks and facial expressions. It ended with Hermione shrugging and shaking her head, while Pansy was frowning thoughtfully.

"Hermione," Harry asked, as he brought out the next item from the tray, "when do you wear dress robes made from the hide of the Basilisk you killed?"

Hermione blinked, but it was Pansy that answered him. "Rarely, very bloody rarely."

Harry smirked as he laid them aside. "Then it's a good thing there was enough hide for a jacket and boots, isn't it?"

Pansy blinked, and looked at the knife in her hand. "Harry, just how big was that beast?"

Harry thought back, frowning. "About eighteen metres, give or take a couple of metres."

Pansy stared at him in awe. "And you killed it by yourself?"

Harry shrugged. "I had Fawkes, the Sorting Hat and Gryffindor's sword."

Harry took all the Basilisk hide clothing, which included the robes, jacket and boots, plus a pair of gloves and set them aside. Removing this tray revealed the bottom of the trunk which had a number of carefully padded items. Harry recognized several. There was a Sneakascope and a Foe Mirror, as well as Gryffindor's sword. None of them had lights, so Harry left them in place.

He replaced each tray, stopping at the top one. On an impulse, he took the glass orb that had the aura sight in it and put it in his pocket. As he reached for the lid to close the trunk, he saw another light, this one on an envelope attached to the lid. Harry opened the envelope. A small silver key fell out, along with several cards and two ornate lapel pins. Harry looked at the note.

_The key locks the chest. As you lock it, think of a person and a password. Only that person will be able to open the trunk. The other things in this envelope show the memberships you have in various organizations. Some are important, other are less so, but all of them are useful, in one way or another. I trust you will have the sense to figure out which ones are which._

Harry looked at the cards. He had a seat on the Wizengamot, and several memberships in groups he'd never heard of. He tucked all the cards in his pocket and looked at the pins. One was a shield shape, with a number of magical designs that would appear for a minute and fade into the next one. Harry's pin had images of a silver wand, a Basilisk, an Acromatula, a Dementor and then, the Dark Mark.

He showed it to the girls. "Do you know what this is?"

Pansy looked at it. "Put it on, Harry." She was staring at the pin. "That is the symbol of the Society of Defenders. There may be one hundred members across the world. It's open only to people that consistently fight evil in all its forms. Each of the images represents an evil you have fought. The colour of the wand shows how many Dark Wizards you have faced. It is the single most prestigious organization you can be a member of in the Wizard world."

Harry nodded and pinned it to the collar of his Basilisk hide jacket. He put the jacket on and looked at the girls. "What do you think? It's not too gaudy, is it?" Harry was thinking of the vividly coloured dragonhide jackets the Weasley twins had.

Hermione and Pansy looked at each other. Harry's jacket was a snakeskin, with scales as big as a child's head. It didn't need to be bright colours to be flashy. "It's fine, Harry," Hermione assured him, hoping she was right.

Harry looked at the other pin, and even he didn't need to be told what it was. The symbol of the Wizengamot was plain. He shrugged and put that pin on the other collar of his jacket.

Pansy turned to Hermione. "How much will it cost to outfit Harry nicely in Muggle clothes?"

Hermione shrugged. "That depends. Are you talking about Saville Row or Harrolds?"

Pansy frowned, looking at Harry. "The best place we can get into without an appointment for two to four suits, and Harrolds for the rest."

Hermione shrugged again. "I'm not sure about the suits. I've heard that the best can cost thousands of pounds. That's a little outside of the type of suits a Dentist looks at."

Pansy frowned as she filled a pouch with Galleons. "How can I know how much to take then?"

The Goblin that had brought them down to the vault was standing by the door watching them, while Tonks watched the carts going by. "Mr. Potter should see about getting a Gringotts card," he said as they all headed for the cart.

Hermione looked at him. "Gringotts has credit cards?" she asked.

"Mr. Potter has four vaults, with substantial deposits and a steadily growing income. He can be offered benefits that lesser depositors are not. Nothing personal, Miss."

"I understand," Hermione said calmly, "everyone knows that money is power, even Muggles."

"Indeed," the goblin agreed, "It's a pity more people don't use their power."

Harry listened to Hermione and the goblin discuss money while he thought about something that caused a decidedly Slytherin smile to cross his face. Pansy saw it and poked him. When Harry looked at her, she looked at him with a straight face. "A Knut for your thoughts."

Harry smiled again, with an expression that would be right at home on any Slytherin's face. "Just making some plans, that I want to do, if I get the chance."

They reached the lobby and stood in line to see about a card, as the Goblin had suggested. They hadn't been there a minute when a Goblin approached Harry. "Pardon me, Sir, do you have more business with us?"

Harry said yes, and the Goblin led them to a door marked with a single Galleon. "In the future, just come to this door and walk in, as long as you are wearing that symbol, Sir," the Goblin said, indicating the Society pin on Harry's collar.

Harry thanked the Goblin and they walked through the door. On the other side, they found a room with a single Goblin sitting behind a desk. Harry told him what they wanted, and the Goblin led them down a hall.

At the end of the hall was a single office and an older Goblin. He stood and settled them all. "What can I do for you?"

Harry told him what the other goblin had said and the older goblin nodded. He reached into his desk and pulled out a strange thin sheet of paper. "Place both hands flat on this paper, Mr. Potter." Harry did so, and the paper flashed, and then turned blue. The goblin took it and put it in a box on his desk.

"That will be used to make your card, Sir, and with it, no one else can use your card. Any attempt to use it by another will cause it to show up as invalid." The goblin went on, explaining the way the card worked. "The card has a limit of fifteen thousand pounds British. On the last day of the month, the full amount owed will be removed from your vault. If you do not have enough to remove the full amount, ten percent will be deducted. If you do not have enough for that, the card will be deactivated."

Harry nodded. "Will the card work in the Muggle world?"

The goblin nodded. "It will always appear to be a card that the store you are using it at will accept."

Harry nodded, looking at the goblin. "Would you know the current value of the Daily Prophet or Witch Weekly?"

"Of course, but to tell you that would violate the privacy rules of Gringotts."

Harry nodded. Pansy whispered in his ear for a second. Harry grinned. "Perhaps you could tell me something else then. If I added another one hundred thousand Galleons to my vault, would that amount be sufficient to purchase either or both of those businesses?"

The Goblin looked at Harry for a second and wrote something on a slip of paper. He put it in the box on his desk and tapped it twice. A few seconds later, the box glowed for a second. The Goblin reached in and took out the paper. He looked at it, and then at Harry. "You could buy one, but not the other, and you would not be able to consider buying both."

Harry nodded. "I see. Thank you." The box glowed again, and the goblin opened it to pull out a small rectangular card. It was the size and shape of a credit card, but a uniform gold colour and unmarked by any writing. The goblin handed it to Harry and looked at him. "Will there be anything else today?"

Pansy nudged Harry, "Get some Muggle money, Harry, in case we find something at a place that doesn't take credit cards." Hermione agreed with her, and Harry handed the goblin some of the Galleons that he'd taken from the vault.

Harry watched as the goblin placed the gold in the box and tapped it again. A few seconds later, he withdrew a stack of Muggle paper money. Harry looked at it and handed it to Hermione. "You're the expert here, I don't think I've ever had more than a pound or two."

Hermione flipped through the stack quickly. "You do now, Harry." She tucked it into her pocket.

Harry was looking at the box thoughtfully. "I don't suppose you could buy one of those," he said to the goblin.

The goblin looked at him. "It requires a goblin to operate it, Mr. Potter."

Harry sighed. "It seems to be a useful item. Could someone hire a goblin or two to use it for them?"

The goblin stared at Harry. "You would hire a goblin, one not bound by the Gringotts oath and rules?"

Harry blinked and stared at the goblin. "Why not?"

The goblin stared at Harry. "Mr. Potter, some of the goblin tribes are less than honest in their dealings with humans."

Harry shrugged. "I would assume that not everyone is completely honest, but you wouldn't recommend thieves to me, would you?"

The goblin stared at Harry for a minute. "You are a most unusual Wizard, Mr. Potter. I will see if I can find a goblin tribe that would be willing to work for you."

Harry sighed. "Thank you, Sir. I do not understand why the Wizards will allow you to control the finances of the Wizard world, but not trust you with anything else."

The goblin shrugged. "I do not get involved in politics, Sir. I simply deal in money."

Harry stood up. "I believe that concludes our business today. I will be back about that other matter, sometime after I come of age."

The goblin also stood. "Mr. Potter, My name is Grabhand, and before you go, I think I can say this, without violating the Code of Privacy. The current owner of the Daily Prophet is very fond of gems. Rubies, sapphires, that sort of thing. An offer tendered in that type of currency would be better received than a higher offer in gold."

Harry nodded and impulsively put his hand out. "Thank you, Grabhand." The Wizard and the goblin shook hands and Harry walked out, followed by the ladies. The goblin watched them go, every bit as surprised as Pansy had been, when Harry introduced her to Dobby. Wizards simply did not offer to shake hands with goblins. Grabhand had worked at the Diagon Alley Gringotts for nearly a century, and he'd never been offered a Wizard's hand before.

Harry Potter was different.

In the lobby, Harry took a minute to use the Gringotts bathroom while the girls went outside to wait. Harry stopped for a minute to admire the look of his new jacket.

Outside, Hermione was watching Pansy try to comfort a crying girl. Daphne Greengrass was a sixth year Slytherin and that was everything Hermione knew about her. Brown haired and brown eyed, she was so quiet as to be invisible.

Hermione looked at the boy that had come with her. Blaise Zabrini was tall, with honey coloured hair and hazel eyes that reflected his mood. Blaise was considered by many girls to be one of the best looking boys in school and it drove the girls slightly insane, since it didn't matter to him.

Daphne and Blaise were head over heels in Love, to the point that other people didn't even register on them occasionally. It was scary, Pansy sometimes thought, watching them walk around in their own little world, totally oblivious to everyone else. She shushed Daphne as Harry came up.

Harry had seen the two Slytherins as he walked up, and he frowned. Blaise Zabrini was the calmest person in Hogwarts, utterly unflappable, or so Harry had thought. Now he was glaring at everybody that came in sight and repeatedly clenching his fists, as if he wanted to strangle someone.

Harry stood next to Hermione, watching Blaise with a wary eye as they wanted for Pansy to finish. When Harry noticed that people were watching the scene, he crossed those last few feet. "Pansy, we're attracting the wrong sort of attention here. We need to get out of sight."

Pansy frowned at him but looked around. "Any suggestions?"

Harry thought about it for a second, then nodded. "Follow me." He started down the street, reaching into his pocket for the letter he'd received from Mr. Sharpstar. He checked the address, blessing the time he'd spent living in Diagon Alley his third year.

Tonks was watching everyone as they walked toward Knockturn Alley. Pansy and Daphne were walking and whispering as Hermione listened with wide eyes. Blaise walked next to Harry, and finally managed to reclaim some of his reputed calm. He looked at Harry, examining him as if he'd never seen him before.

"Hello, Potter," he said finally. "We're sorry about interrupting your day, but Daphne had to talk to Pansy."

Harry shrugged. "It's not a problem. Are you one of their group?"

Blaise frowned, puzzled, until Harry indicated the girls and his left forearm. He shook his head. "No, my father is a bit higher than they are. He'll join the primary club any day now." Blaise bristled with anger again at some thought. "He's a bit disappointed in me for spending so much time with a servant."

Harry looked at him again as the venom in his voice registered. "Are the Greengrasses part of Windenmere?"

Blaise nodded. "The Greengrasses are part of the Montague family."

Harry was thinking as he led the group past Knockturn Alley and to Mr. Sharpstar's office. Just as they got there, he looked at Hermione. "Hermione, this is not a library." He grinned, thinking about her response to seeing an entire room piled high with books. Hermione frowned at him absently, still listening to Pansy and Daphne.

Harry led them all inside. "Mr. Sharpstar?" he called.

"Mr. Potter?" came the startled reply, followed quickly by the smiling Solicitor. He looked at the group and his smile dimmed slightly. "What can I do for you?"

Harry indicated the two Slytherin girls. "They need to borrow your conference room for a bit, if you don't mind."

"Not at all." Mr. Sharpstar showed the girls to the room and came back.

Hermione had both hands in her pockets as she read the titles of the books she could see, and the two boys were watching her with amusement. Every so often she'd reach for a book that apparently interested her, only to remember that these books were private property.

Harry was openly smiling, and Blaise had an amused look as well. Mr. Sharpstar came back and looked at Hermione. "Mr. Potter, some introductions are in order, I think."

Harry introduced Hermione, who barely stopped reading titles long enough to greet him, then introduced Blaise and Tonks. Mr. Sharpstar looked at Hermione with a smile. "Miss Granger," he said, "You may look, as long as you put them back where you found them. It may not look like it, but they are somewhat organized."

Hermione thanked him and had a book open so fast that Harry thought she'd used magic. He grinned at Mr. Sharpstar. "You may have a hard time getting rid of her now."

Hermione didn't even look up. "Be nice, Harry," she said absently.

Mr. Sharpstar looked at Harry. "I haven't been to Hogwarts in a while, but I seem to recall that Gryffindors and Slytherins didn't spend a lot of time meeting."

Harry shrugged, unwilling to say anything to a man he didn't know that well yet. "Special circumstances," he said quietly, "this is related to some of the things we discussed."

Mr. Sharpstar nodded. "I see." He frowned thoughtfully for a minute and then shook his head. "I'm glad you stopped by. I have some things that I have to talk to you about anyway."

Harry nodded, and related what Grabhand had told him. The Solicitor frowned thoughtfully. "You're sure this information is accurate?"

Harry grinned. "Mr. Sharpstar, you could take it to the bank."

The older Wizard stared at Harry. "I see," he said again. "I think such an offer could be made. Thank you for the information." He was about to say something else when he noted the pins on Harry's collar. He stared at them for a second and then smiled. "Since you seem to be collecting jewelry today, allow me to add some more."

He went to his desk and came back with a small velvet pouch. He handed it to Harry, who opened it, allowing the contents to fall into his hand. Three signet rings rolled into his hand, along with two Wizengamot rings that were a bit different than the one he had on. These two rings had diamonds in them, rather than the ruby his ring had.

Harry examined them as Mr. Sharpstar told him what they were. "Those are the Rings of the Potter, Black and Montrose families. Your grandmother on your father's side was the last Montrose, so you're the Montrose head, Baron Potter and Lord Black, all in one."

Harry blinked. Several times. "Excuse me," he said finally, "but did you say Baron? And Lord?"

Mr. Sharpstar smiled. "Both of those titles are yours, and you'll get the authority to go with them on your birthday, lad. Since Sirius left you everything, that title is yours as well."

Harry frowned. "Wouldn't Narcissa Malfoy be higher in line than I am?"

Mr. Sharpstar shrugged. "She should be, but the title, by Black family rules, can only go to a male."

Hermione looked up. "That's so sexist. A woman can hold a title."

Mr. Sharpstar agreed. "However, the family rules date back to a time when women couldn't rule, or have a title by law. The Black family was very conservative, even for one of the old families."

Harry was still stunned by the revelation that he had not one, but two titles, and three families. Of course, two of those families had a single member, and the last had Narcissa and Bella as its only other members. Harry would have preferred not to have anyone in that family as well.

"Hello, cousin," said Tonks, reminding Harry she was there. "I'm glad to meet you," she continued, "since now I know there is at least one person the family would hate worse than I." She grinned at the expression on his face. "You do remember that my mother was a Black, before she married my father, right?"

Harry nodded. "In fact, I think it's time to fix that," he said. "See if you can set up a meeting with your mother, sometime next week, would you?" Harry frowned, as possibilities exploded across his mind. He hated publicity, but right now, Moldywart was getting all of it, and using it to increase the fear in the Wizard's world.

That had to change, and Harry was the best person to change it. He sighed. "Damned if I do, damned if I don't, " he said, remembering the phrase from one of Dudley's books.

Hermione looked up. "What do you mean, Harry?"

Harry just shook his head as he thought about the possibilities unfolding before him. He already had a reputation, and soon he would add money and now, a couple of titles to that. This would be helpful, in a world where those things mattered. He had been thinking about how he would carry the war to Voldemort for a while now, ever since Professor Dumbledore had died, leaving him in the front of this battle.

He sighed. All of this was coming too fast, and he was beginning to get a headache. Before he could think about it anymore, Pansy and Daphne came out of the room they had been talking in. "Harry, we need to talk to you." Pansy was terse, and everyone could see the anger that made her seem to vibrate. She looked around. "It seems, " she said bitterly, "that Moldywart."

Pansy froze, blinking wildly. "I can't believe I just said that."

Harry smirked at her. "And look, " he said, laughing, "once again, the world didn't explode."

Pansy glared at him. "Shut it, Potter." She took a deep breath. "Riddle has decided to try his hand at breeding more Death Eaters. He's informed his followers that they will all get married and start having children."

Harry froze, staring at her. "That's barbaric." He thought about it. "I don't understand why you two are so upset though. You were going to marry anyway, weren't you?"

Blaise snarled and Daphne burst into tears. "Yes, they were. Voldemort though, has chosen other spouses for them."

Harry stared at her. His face went cold and that fire appeared behind his eyes. "Tommy-boy," he said, looking at a sight only he could see, "you're racking up a debt you can't pay." Harry put his anger away with difficulty. "Right. We need to do something about this, and soon. Does anyone have any ideas about how?"

The group was silent, thinking about what they could do. "I have a suggestion, Mr. Potter."

Harry looked at Mr. Sharpstar. "By all means, Sir, go ahead."

"You have three families, and very few people. You could adopt a few more." The group stared at him.

Harry frowned. "Don't I have to be of age to do that?"

The Solicitor smirked. "Yes, but by Wizard law, if you do it, and your guardian signs off on it, it's still legal. You could adopt these three, after they request it and then hide them from Voldemort."

Pansy looked at Harry, and a calculating glint entered her eye. "Mr. Sharpstar," she said, "may I use your Floo?" He nodded and Pansy said she'd be right back. She stepped into the Floo and was gone.

Daphne was looking at Blaise. "This would be your decision, love. I am going to change my name anyway. I'll be just as happy being Mrs. Potter as Mrs. Zabrini, as long as you're with me."

Blaise frowned as he thought. He looked at Daphne and smiled. "I think being a Black would sound better, Sweetheart."

Harry grinned at them, envious of the joy they took in each other. "So, I adopt one of you into a family, and the other into another one, and then you get married, and I have the beginnings of a family."

Daphne took her eyes off Blaise long enough to look at Harry. "Another one?" she quoted, "how many families do you have?"

Harry ticked them off on his fingers. "Potter, Black and Montrose."

Daphne was looking at Blaise again, but her head came around at the word Montrose. "You are the head of House Montrose?"

Harry nodded, looking at her curiously. "My grandmother was the last member of the family, and since I am the only living member of her family, I am House Montrose."

Daphne turned back to stare at Blaise. "You will be a Montrose." The others stared at her. Daphne had not made that a request. She looked at Harry. "There is some history between the Montrose and Greengrass families."

Blaise nodded, smiling at her. "I thought you would say that as soon as I heard the name." He looked at Harry. "If you'll excuse me, I have to go say goodbye to some people." He didn't wait for an answer, but stepped through the Floo.

Daphne nodded. "So do I."

A few seconds later, Hermione and Tonks were the only people left. Harry looked at Tonks. "Tell your mother that I will reinstate her in the Black family if she wishes." He looked at Hermione. "How about you, Hermione? I have all these families and very few people in them. Would you like a Wizard family? I'm on a recruiting drive."

Hermione blinked and turned to Mr. Sharpstar. "Is that legal? Would it affect my Muggle family? I really don't want to disown my family just to have a new name."

Mr. Sharpstar shook his head. "The only thing a Wizard family would do to you as far as the Muggles are concerned is give you the right to use a hyphened name."

Harry grinned. "There you go, Hermione. You could be Miss Hermione Granger-Black, and wouldn't that just frost that old bat?"

Hermione imagined the painting's reaction to hearing that a Muggle born witch was the newest member of the family. She smirked, remembering all the insults the painting had thrown at her.

Tonks and Hermione were thinking about Harry's offer and Harry had a few minutes to think. He looked at the others and thought about the argument that he'd had on the train with Ginny.

"Harry Potter, you are the most pig headed stubborn boy I've ever met!" Ginny's eyes were flashing and her finger was about to leave a bruise on Harry's chest.

Harry grabbed her hand. "Ginny, don't you understand?" He stared at her desperately. "You'll be safer this way."

"Safer?" Ginny's voice was rising and Harry was only vaguely aware of their friends leaving the compartment. He was watching Ginny. "Safer? How am I safer? In case you haven't noticed, Harry, my whole family is on Voldemort's death list. One, for being blood traitors. Two, for opposing him. Three, for being your friends. Me being your girlfriend is not going to raise the danger at all."

Harry looked at her, his mind flashing back on dozens of scenes. Elbows and butter dishes. Diaries and Basilisks. Dwarves and Valentines. Kisses and Hugs. It had taken him five year to realize that she was more than Ron's little sister, that she was more than a friend, and now that he was going out to hunt Horcruxes, he wanted her safe.

Harry looked at her. "Yes, you and our family are high on his list, but I don't want you at the top. If he knew how much I loved you, you would not be on his death list at all. You'd move to his kidnap list, to be used against me. He'd try and take you, torture you, just to get to me."

Ginny stared at him. "You love me?" she said in a small voice, staring at his eyes.

Harry ran his hands through his hair. "Did you think I was playing with you? I don't go around kissing every beautiful girl in school, you know." He turned toward the window, unable to face the naked emotion in Ginny's face. "Yes, I love you. I want you to be there after Voldemort is gone." He looked at her. "Even if I am not."

Ginny paled. She started to say something but Harry put his hand on her lips. "Ginny, the prophecy doesn't say I will win, it says I can. It doesn't say we both won't die, only that one of us has to before the other can truly live. I might lose. I have to face these things or I will go in blindly, like I did at the Ministry." He looked at the window, remembering that night. "We were lucky to only lose Sirius. We were careless and over-confident, and Sirius paid the price."

Harry turned on her. "I'm not going to let anyone else die for me. I'd leave Ron and Hermione behind, if I didn't think they'd go stumbling around without me anyway." He took a deep breath and stared at her, begging for her to understand with his eyes. "I need you to be safe. I need to know that when this is over, I have someone to come home to, someone that will not be looking at the Boy Who Lived To Kill Voldemort. I need someone that has seen the Boy Who Pouts and Whines."

Ginny stared at him. Harry stared back, and they sat there for several minutes. "Harry, I understand your points, and I think you're wrong. Not only in what you're doing, but in how you're doing it. I will not be any safer being your ex girlfriend that I would as your girlfriend. With Professor Dumbledore gone, you are our only hope, and don't you think I'll be safer with you, than somewhere you can't see me?"

She frowned and bit her lip. "Or maybe you think I'm not good enough to go with you." She didn't allow him a chance to say anything. "I was in the Ministry, and in the Chamber of Secrets, Harry. I've fought him nearly as long as you, and been closer to him than anyone but you. We are the only two that truly understand what you face. Don't push me away."

Harry closed his eyes, torn between love of and fear for the girl that had gotten to him in ways no one else ever had. Logic told him she was right, that he could use her help and her love. His heart cried louder though, and Harry finally opened his eyes. "I'm sorry, Ginny," he said softly.

Ginny stared at him as tears welled up in her eyes. She stood up and turned toward the door. She opened it and started out. "Good-bye, Harry"

Harry was drawn out of his memories of the last time Ginny had spoken to him by the Floo. Pansy came though the Floo and brushed herself off. She came over to Harry and he narrowed his eyes. Pansy had a strange look in her eyes, a mixture of Slytherin cunning and nervousness. She handed him a scroll without a word and waited, biting her lip.

Harry unrolled the scroll and started reading. When he was done, he looked at Pansy. "Do you know what this says?" he asked her.

Pansy nodded silently, and Harry stared at her. "Hermione," he said, falling back on his oldest friend, "do you know anything about Wizard marriage customs?" Harry thought she did, after she'd known about the knife thing.

Hermione looked up from the book she was studying. "Ron and I discussed it before we broke up, so I looked into it. I might have spent a couple of months doing some private research."

Harry and Pansy looked at each other and Harry put their collective thoughts into words. "A couple of months?" he said incredulously, "what are you going to do? Write a book?"

Hermione blushed. "I was thinking about it. The customs are from all over the world, and there is no one guide to all the possibilities. Monogamy, bigamy, line marriages, polyandry,"

"Wait a minute." Harry had just caught the rest of her statement. "What do you mean, you and Ron broke up?"

Hermione flushed. "We had a difference of opinion, one we couldn't get around. Ron finally laid down an ultimatum, and I told him off, for the last time."

Harry frowned. "I'm sorry, Hermione," he said sympathetically.

She shrugged. "So am I, but I just couldn't deal with what he wanted." She looked at Harry. "What did you do to Ginny, anyway? I noticed that she avoided you when we got off the train, and so did everyone else."

Harry colored. "I was wrong about something, but I was too wrapped up in grief and worry to know it then." He looked at the scroll in his hand and handed it to Hermione. "Is this even legal?"

Hermione scanned it. "Yes, by Wizard law it is, although it's rarely used these days."

Harry frowned. He looked at Mr. Sharpstar. He said something to him, quietly, so the rest of them couldn't hear what he said. Mr. Sharpstar looked at him and nodded. Harry turned to the others. "I have to do something. I'll be back as soon as I can, and I'll give you an answer then, Pansy."

Pansy frowned. "I'm not a very patient person, Harry."

Harry crossed to her, ignoring the flinch as he stroked the back of her cheek with his hand. "I will protect you," he said quietly, "even if it's not in the way you want." Harry and Mr. Sharpstar went into the Floo and were gone.

Tonks watched as Hermione and Pansy had a conversation that they understood.

Hermione looked at Pansy, evaluating the other girl. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Completely, and you'd like a name, yes?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Harry will need a Slytherin outlook with him. Was he cute?"

"He saw everyone as a potential friend, that's why Malfoy annoyed him so much. Why this?" Hermione asked, holding up the scroll.

"Ginny will be Mrs. Potter, you're Hermione and I can't compete with either of those. It's the only way."

Pansy and Hermione stared at each other. Finally, Hermione smiled. "Good luck."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Thank you. You too."

Harry and Mr. Sharpstar made two quick stops and then returned to his office. Harry left again, without saying anything and Mr. Sharpstar would only say that he'd be back.

Pansy and Hermione stared at each other, speculating on what Harry was up to. Whatever it was, it involved the Weasleys, because Harry had Flooed to the Burrow.

And now, a few words from the Author. (As if everything prior to this wasn't by me.)

I was planning on making this day all one chapter, but explaining everything that is changing in Harry's life is taking a few too many words, so the rest of the day will be another chapter. SOG is roughly broken down into twelve chapters from this point on.

4. The rest of the day.

5. The summer and Harry's birthday.

6 through 16 will each cover a single month in the school year, with the last chapter covering June.

The last chapter will also cover an epilogue, set some ten years later.

That is the plan currently. However, Prophecy was supposed to be a mere twenty chapters. For those of you reading it, you might have noticed that it's grown a bit beyond that. I am going to try and keep this one shorter than that, but the characters grow on me, and want to say and do things that I had not planned on.

Ships: This is a Harry/Ginny story. It is also a Harry/Hermione story. It is also a Harry/Pansy story. It is also a Hermione/Pansy story. If you want to know how it can be all those at once, you'll just have to read it.

And yes, before you say anything, there will be some slash, as well as other things that are not entirely Mainstream. If that turns you away from SOG, I'm sorry, but that's just the way it is.

Fletcher: I wrote him a bit more articulate than he is in the books for one reason: I am an American, and my knowledge of current British slang is nil. Rather than look like a complete idiot, I made him a bit more well spoken.

To all the Readers Who Reviewed:

Thank you for taking the time to let me know that you like my work, and to say something about parts that you liked or thought were wrong. I love that, even when you tell me that I'm an Idiot That Writes. It means that I moved you, which is the goal of every writer.

And now, a few words for specific people:

Owl: Shades of Grey is happy that you love it, but she wishes to finish school first. (Yes, the Author is weird.)

Miss Anthrope: I will finish SOG, but I have learned not to promise regular updates. A new chapter is like giving birth; sometimes painful, and you never know until it's finished how long it's going to take.

Bandgsecurtiyaw: You're going to have to wait for each chapter... unless you can see the future.

Promios: Harry is a romantic, who refuses to have sex with Pansy because he doesn't love her. I know it's not a common attitude these days, but since I am writing the story, I can make him that way. I happen to agree with him, that sex is more than physical desire. As for the Ships, see the above note.

Qrookill: What can I say? Here's chapter three for you, and I'm already working on four. Patience is a virtue.

Pansyfansy: It will be equal parts H/G, H/Hr and H/Pansy. See the note on Ships.

Verath: I sent you an email with the order of the Prophecy stories.

Dave-gerecke: Continuing, as you hoped.

Anders1: See my answer to Miss Anthrope, because it's the same thing I'd say to you.

Fifespice: by now you know who sent Pansy, you'll have to wait for the Order meeting to see what they do, Pansy and Harry will be friends, and you'll have to read the story to see what Hermione thinks.

Just Me Prime: See the answer to Bandgsecurtiyaw above.

The Demon Inside: Thank you... and I have an idea for a story, using your name as the title. Do you mind?

Voldemort is Dead: Thank you. See my note on ships... Ginny may not be right for Harry, but when do affairs of the Heart follow logic? Ron... is going to go Ballistic in this story, at least twice. Harry's birthday is turning into its own chapter. Harry's coming of age is going to rock the Wizard world, and may become a historical event in Professor Binn's class.

IndiaInk: First, I love your review, Thank you. Harry is not warm toward Pansy, yet. He is one of the most compassionate people alive though, and Pansy has come to him for help. That makes her a person, and she's giving him something he's not getting from most people. Honesty. She's made it plain she is here for her family, and that he's a means to an end. Fletcher, as I mentioned above, is a result of my own shortcomings as a writer, but it's not going to matter, as he's only got one more appearance, and he won't be saying much. Hopefully, the rest of SOG will live up to its start.


	4. Shirts, Shopping and Secrets

_Oops. I accidentally uploaded the wrong rewrite of this chapter, so here is the final version. There are only a couple of minor changes, but they will be important later. Pay attention to Mrs. Longbottom and Blaise, and they have the biggest changes. I also added something to the shirt, something I forgot the first time around. Now, back to the story._

_Chapter four is here, and it's far too long, but Harry has just three months to create his organization, and a million things to do. Since we didn't finish the day here, there will be changes to the outline I gave last chapter. It will be two weeks or so before chapter five, as I have to put out a chapter of Prophecy before then._

_**Shirts, Shopping and Secrets**_

Harry landed on his back exiting the Floo at the Burrow and picked himself up. He heard sounds in the kitchen and headed that way. "Hello, Mrs. Weasley."

Mrs. Weasley turned, surprised. "Harry! What are you doing here? Is everything all right, dear?"

Harry smiled at the woman who had become a second mother to him. "Everything is fine, Mrs. Weasley. I just need to talk to Ginny and Ron."

Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a sharp look. "Are you going to fix whatever you did to Ginny?"

Harry blushed. "I hope so. I have to talk to her."

"You'll have some time, Ron went into the village for me and he'll be gone about an hour."

Harry smiled at her. "Where is Ginny?"

"She's in her room." Mrs. Weasley frowned. "Don't you do anything forward, young man. I'm trusting you."

Harry blushed and turned toward the stairs. He started up them and missed Mrs. Weasley's final comment. "Good luck." Mrs. Weasley was aware of Ginny's feelings for Harry, and she thought Harry was the only Wizard good enough for her little girl, after she finished school of course. Preferably, several years after she finished Hogwarts. Maybe even a decade afterwards.

Harry came to Ginny's door and knocked. "Come in." Harry pushed the door open. Ginny was sitting at the little desk that looked out over the garden. "I told you. I'm not ready to talk about it yet, Mum."

"Pity," Harry said, "and here I was with an apology all ready, too."

Ginny stiffened and spun in her chair. "Harry? What are you doing here?" Belatedly, she blinked and frowned at him. "An apology?"

Harry nodded and sat on the edge of her bed. "You were right. Pushing you away is not the way to keep you safe. Half of the school knew we were dating, and just being a friend of mine is enough for the Death Eaters."

Ginny frowned at him. "I believe I made those points on the train."

Harry smiled sheepishly. "I know. What can I say? I'm a little slow sometimes." He grinned suddenly. "Although, I believe you might have expressed yourself a little more forcefully than I did."

Ginny blushed as she remembered her temper tantrum on the train. "I was very angry with you."

Harry looked at her out of the corner of his eye. "Really? I never would have guessed."

Ginny frowned at his flippant tone. "Harry, I still do a very good Bat-Bogey Hex," she warned him, fingering her wand.

Harry sighed, his mood changing suddenly. "And you'll probably be using it on me in a few minutes. But before you do, I want you to hear me all the way out, please."

Ginny frowned at him, but tucked her wand under her leg and laced her fingers together. "I won't make any promises, but I will try to listen to what you have to say."

Harry took a deep breath and started telling Ginny about everything that had happened since they parted on the train. He told her everything, including Pansy's offer about his virginity and his response. Harry blushed a great deal during that part, but got through it. He brought her up to date and showed her the second Basilisk fang knife. He told her about the changes he'd made to his plans, noting her happiness that he'd be back for the next school year.

When he was finished, he sat back and waited for her questions or hexes, whichever she chose to use. Ginny looked at the knife, her thoughts running at high speed. Her first desire was to hex Pansy and Harry, but having to think about all the things that had happened to Harry over the last two days was muting that.

"So Parkinson has made an offer to be your concubine. What does that entail, exactly?"

Harry was unable to repress a shudder. "She would share my bed until she was with child and then I would support them both until the child was ten. The child would be mine after that, and she would leave."

Ginny shivered, her face twisting in disgust. "That is the most cold-blooded thing I have ever heard that was not evil."

Harry nodded emphatically. "I agree. I have a couple of other options, and this is the one I would prefer." Harry outlined his plans for the next year, as they had been changed over the last couple of days.

Ginny looked at him. She thought she knew why Harry wanted to do this, but she asked anyway. "Why do you like that option, Harry?"

Harry sighed, looking over her shoulder, at something only he could see. "I have a few reasons. One, I like her, and I think you'd like her as well, if you two can get past the whole Gryffindor vs. Slytherin thing. I could even grow to love her, one day, but you are in my heart now, and forever. If you would prefer either of the other two options, say so. You have first claim on me." Harry sighed and looked at Ginny. "I can't do what she wants, but she came to me for help. This is the best way to do that, within my limits.

Ginny frowned. "This is a lot to think about all at once, Harry. May I have a bit of privacy to think about it?"

Harry stood up and started toward the door. "Of course. I have to talk to Ron about the changes in the plan for next year and ask him about doing a few things for me this year anyway."

Harry had his hand on the door when Ginny spoke again. "Harry, I have not been kissed yet." Her voice held a hint of threat and laughter at the same time and Harry smiled.

Harry opened the door to Ginny's room a few minutes later, smiling foolishly. Kissing Ginny was far better than arguing with Ginny. He'd have to remember that in the future. He went downstairs, feeling better than he had since he left Hogwarts.

Mrs. Weasley looked at him as he entered the kitchen. She saw the smile and suppressed one of her own. "So, have you fixed the problem?"

Harry nodded, his smile fading. "Yes, but the last two days have been extremely busy, and I have a whole new set of problems." He looked at her, remembering something Ron had said once. "You came from one of the older families, didn't you, Mrs. Weasley?"

She nodded, smiling. "Yes, I was a Prewett, before I married Arthur."

"What do you know about the family group called Windenmere?"

Molly looked up from her cooking. "Are you getting involved with them, Harry? You need to be careful, they're a bit different from the rest of the Wizards."

Harry grinned and blushed at the same time. "That much, I've already figured out."

Molly sighed. "So you are involved with them. Right. The first thing to remember is that they will always put their extended family group first, no matter what. If it appears that they are doing something else, there's something wrong." She looked at Harry. "Their customs are different from most families as well. They are far more liberal about nudity and sex than anyone else you will meet in the Wizard world." She saw Harry's face as he remembered the feel of Pansy in his bed. "You've already noticed that, I see. A lot of the more traditional Families won't let their children near the Windenmere families, for fear they'll be corrupted."

Harry looked confused. "Corrupted? By nudity?"

Mrs. Weasley sighed. "You've never seen some of the more traditional families at home. Some of the older families feel that Queen Victoria was too permissive."

Harry blinked, and stared at her. "They feel that Queen Victoria, of the Victorian Age, was too permissive?" He shook his head. "I don't even want to know."

Mrs. Weasley shrugged. "Customs differ, from group to group in the wizard world. The Zabinis, for example, have six daughters, none of whom will attend school. They will be taught everything they need to know about running a manor at home, so that they do not get exposed to ideas or learning above their station as Ladies."

Harry stared at her, shocked speechless for a minute. He read the truth of her words in her face and shook his head. "Every time I think I have heard the weirdest thing Wizards can come up with, I find something new and even weirder."

Mrs. Weasley sighed. "It's not a common attitude these days, and very few of the families believe in it these days, but there are a couple of them left. The Windenmere families get a lot of the runaways from those families, simply because they don't care what you were before you became a Windenmere." She frowned at Harry. "How did you get involved with them, anyway? The last I knew, most of them were hiding from You Know Who, or on his side."

"Yes, I know," said Harry absently, as he thought about what he'd heard and how to use it. "Excuse me, Mrs. Weasley. I have a lot to think about. I am going to sit in the garden for a bit."

Harry sat near the roses and thought. He had fame. He didn't like that much, but it could be a tool. Voldemort was using his fame, or infamy rather, to intimidate the entire nation. If Harry could negate even half of that fear, and get some of the people fighting back, his job would be a lot easier. He had a few ideas about where to start, but he would need serious help, professional help later on.

He tabled those thoughts for later and went to the next problem. From what he understood, money was another of those things that he wouldn't have to worry about after his birthday, and money was another form of power. Trying to buy the Daily Prophet was an exercise in that, but if it didn't work, he'd turn the Quibbler into his voice, as he had with Rita's interview. He had a couple of other ideas about what to do with this power, but again, he'd need help with it.

Physical power. Now that was going to be a problem. Harry had maybe two dozen people he could count on to fight, and to have a good chance of coming out alive. He had to change that, even if it meant hiring the Goblins as troops.

Harry sighed. His biggest problem was going to be the Wizard world though. Harry had seen the rampant racism in this world, against anything that smacked of less than perfectly Wizard, and he hated it. Harry was going to drag the Wizards into the twentieth century about that if he had to personally kick every wizard in the country in the ass to get his point across. His starting point though, was going to be the House divisions in Hogwarts. The Houses would barely talk to each other, and that was the starting point for some of the racism.

Harry felt a presence next to him and he looked up as Ginny sat down. She stared at him seriously for a minute. "Do you really think I'll like her?"

Harry smiled at her as he took her hand. "I think you will." He told her what they had done to Harry's relatives. "And it was all her idea. She's got a wicked sense of humour, much like the girl that painted Ron's room in the colours of the Holyfield Harpies."

Ginny smirked as she remembered Ron's expression when he found the glaring orange of his beloved Chudley Cannons transmuted into the blue and silver of the all Witch Harpies. "He still believes that was the twins."

Harry grinned and turned serious again. "She's got some strange ideas, she'll do things that will make us wonder how dark she is, and there's something wrong with her, she keeps flinching when you get close to her face, but she's as good as any Gryffindor I know."

Ginny nodded, thinking over what Harry had said. "I can't say I'm entirely happy about sharing you with anyone, but I'll try it for you. I do have one condition though. If it's not working out, we tell her and let her become a member of your families like you did with Blaise and Daphne."

Harry smiled at Ginny, hugging her gently. "I can live with that. Are you sure you are willing to do this? I know Pansy and I both have different feelings about, um, er." Harry stopped, unable to say the word in front of a girl.

Ginny watched him for a minute as a smile grew on her face. "Sex, Harry. The word is sex." She frowned at him. "What do you mean, both of you?"

Harry was still blushing. "I was raised by Muggles, remember? Muggles have vastly different attitudes about multiple partners, same sex pairings and other things than Wizards do, or at least the Wizards I know, and she's part of the Windenmere group."

Harry frowned as he looked over her head at something only he could see. "The Wizard world as a whole is decades behind the Muggles in many ways. That is one of the things I want to change. There has to be a way to combine some of the more enlightened attitudes of both worlds." Harry looked at Ginny. "Of course, Wizards are ahead of Muggles in some ways. You don't have racism, at least not any based on the colour of your skin."

Ginny frowned at Harry. "Aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself? You still have to deal with Tom."

Harry nodded. "I know, but planning for the future makes me look far more confident than I am, and that will only be good for the public." Harry laid out a few more of his plans, until his stomach rumbled, surprising a giggle out of Ginny.

She stood up and offered a hand to Harry. "Come on. Mum will never forgive you if you leave hungry."

They walked into the Burrow and Ginny gravely informed her mother that Harry's stomach was complaining of hunger. "Since we all know that Harry would starve before complaining," she finished, smiling impishly at Harry.

Mrs. Weasley had sandwiches on the table for them so fast that it seemed almost like magic.

Harry and Ginny continued to discuss his plans for the summer as they ate. Mrs. Weasley listened to them as she did some baking. She frowned but didn't say anything until Harry was telling Ginny the details about adopting Blaise and Daphne. "You Know Who is going to be very upset with you, Harry," she commented worriedly.

"He's always upset with Harry." Ron had come in the kitchen in time to hear that comment. He grinned at Harry. "Hello, mate. What are you doing to annoy him now, besides existing?"

Harry grinned at the three of them, and couldn't resist the urge to say, "This week, I'm adopting people he's told to do something they don't want to do, and next week I'm going to really twist Moldywart's knickers by stealing a bunch of his Death Wankers." He watched them all as what he'd said sunk in.

Ron raised an eyebrow at the adoption line, and went fish-eyed at Moldywarts, and ended by staring at Harry with his mouth open.

Molly Weasley didn't show her emotions quite as badly as Ron, but her face was decidedly pale as she kneaded the bread dough. "Harry Potter! You will not use that sort of language in this house."

The three teenagers looked at Molly with smiles. Harry's smile was tinged with a hint of slyness. "But it's OK if I call him Moldywarts, right?"

Molly frowned at him. "Would you really stop if I asked you to?"

Harry sighed. "Probably not," he admitted, "we have to do something about his grip of fear on the Wizards, and if I can get his true story out, and show that he can't do anything about me insulting him, that would help a lot."

Ron was frowning. "Harry, how can you trust You Know Who's followers? They're worse than Slytherins, and most of them were Slytherins."

Harry glared at Ron. "I was nearly a Slytherin, Ron." Harry told them about what the Sorting Hat had told him. "Would I be untrustworthy, had I gone to Slytherin?"

Ron was frowning at Harry. "You didn't go there, though. You went to Gryffindor." He looked stubborn. "You can't trust anyone that was in that house."

Ginny glared at Ron. "Peter Pettigrew was a Gryffindor. He wasn't the most trustworthy person, was he?"

Harry stood up. "Thank you for the sandwiches, Mrs. Weasley. I've got to get back to Hermione and Tonks right now though, so I should be going."

"Mum, may I go with Harry?" Ginny wasn't hopeful that her mother would agree, but she had to ask. She wanted to meet this changed Pansy Harry was getting to know. "He's going to be with Tonks and Hermione all day, and in Diagon Alley, around loads of people."

Molly's first thought was to say no. Then she looked at Ginny and Harry. This was the first time Ginny had come out of her room unless ordered to since they'd come back from Hogwarts. She thought about it some more. Hermione was a sensible girl and Tonks was an adult. Surely they couldn't get into too much trouble in Diagon Alley.

"Mum, I'm going with Harry also. We can keep an eye on Ginny easily enough." Ron hadn't planned on going with Harry, but the look of mute entreaty on Ginny's face was enough to sway him.

Molly sighed. "I expect you to stay out of trouble, both of you. Harry, I want you all back in time for dinner."

Harry smiled. "I'll have them back on time, but I have to be back at the Dursley's by then. I'd love to be here for breakfast, if you don't mind though."

"You know very well that you're welcome here at any time, Harry." Molly smiled at the boy that she thought of as a son.

Ginny smiled and hugged her mother. "Thanks, Mum." She hurried upstairs to get dressed.

Harry looked at Ron. "You have any plans for this summer, mate?"

"No, I was going to wait and see what we were doing." Ron looked at Harry. "I assume that something has changed though, and you have something for me to do."

Harry nodded. "I do have something for you to do, but it's going to be work and you may not be able to start for a few days. I still have to talk to Mr. Lovegood about the Quibbler."

Ron frowned. "What would I have to do with the Quibbler?"

Harry just shrugged. "Whatever Mr. Lovegood had for you to do, and examining the people that come in and work there. I may need the Quibbler, like I did before, and I need to know that it's safe, both to use, and from harm."

Molly frowned at Harry. "You're going to have Ron there to keep an eye on the place? What if something happens?"

Harry stared at Ron. "Then Ron will use the Portkey I give him to find help." Harry saw the look that crossed Ron's face. "If he doesn't, I might have to stop using his services, since I won't be able to trust him to do what he's told."

Ron blinked, staring at Harry. "I've been your best mate for six years, and you'd drop me for doing something you'd do?"

Harry sighed. "It's different now, Ron. I have a very limited force at my disposal, unlike Professor Dumbledore, who had the Order and almost anyone he wanted, because of who he was. With my limited numbers, I can't afford to lose a single person. If we do fight at all this year, I'm going to pick the time and the place, insuring as much as possible that I have the advantages across the board."

Ron frowned, but he had to agree that Harry's resources were minuscule compared to Professor Dumbledore's. "I don't like it, but I'll use your Portkey, as long as I get to return with the reinforcements."

Ginny came back down the stairs and the three teens said goodbye to Mrs. Weasley. They Flooed to Mr. Sharpstar's office, landing in a heap on the floor.

OoOoOoO _During Harry's absence; Hermione and Pansy_ OoOoOoO

"So, we're in agreement?" Pansy looked at Hermione, waiting for her response.

Hermione frowned, seeking a flaw in the other girl's logic. "It does seem to be an acceptable solution from our viewpoint. I can only see three things that would make it unacceptable. First, we have to make Harry stop seeing me as his sister."

Pansy grinned. "Give me a couple of days to soften him up, and then we'll gradually introduce him to the Family customs." Pansy gave Hermione a sharp look. "You know something about the Windenmere families, don't you? Why haven't you said anything to Harry?"

Hermione shrugged. "My source is two hundred and twenty years old and is the only thing I have been able to find in print. It may be wrong, slanted or things might have changed. I don't give out bad information to Harry."

Pansy shook her head. "Let me guess. You read a book called _'The Windenmere Phenomena; An Inside Look'_, didn't you?" At Hermione's nod Pansy frowned. "It's fairly accurate, but things have changed slightly, and there were some things the author never learned, simply because he wasn't one of us."

Hermione cocked her head and looked at Pansy in consideration. "Ever thought of writing a book about the families of your own? You would be a great source, and you would know everything you could or could not say."

Pansy rubbed her eyes. "Granger, this obsession you have with words and books has to be unhealthy. What were the other two problems you see with our plan, before Harry gets back?"

"Ginny may not be willing to share Harry with either of us." Hermione said simply.

Pansy sighed. "We can work on that as well, it may simply take a bit longer. Ginny has shown enough Slytherin qualities in the last couple of years that I'm not worried about that. We can reason with her." Pansy grinned at Hermione as she used her thumb to push her hair back. "I'll bet you didn't know that she was the one that charmed the library books to be blank for a day last year, did you?"

Hermione stared at Pansy. "No, I didn't. How did you know?"

Pansy smirked. "She had to have somebody's help, and since he was a Slytherin, Ginny didn't bother asking him for help. She set him up and blackmailed him into helping. After they were done, she told him that she'd hold the evidence against him until she was out of school, then she'd destroy it, if he kept quiet about the prank. From what the Slytherin spies in the other houses have been able to discover, she's been responsible for three or four good pranks each year since her second year, and nobody can prove a thing."

Hermione was gaping at Pansy. Pansy smirked again and closed Hermione's mouth gently. "How do you know about the prank, if her accomplice isn't talking?"

Pansy sighed, and for just a minute there was a flash of pain in her eyes. "All of Slytherin spies on each other. We have to, in self-defence, if nothing else. I have to know what the others are doing, so I can counter them, if it would affect me. I know a great deal about everyone in Slytherin, I simply have not had to use it, as I've been hiding behind Draco since first year."

Hermione nodded, but left that statement alone for a minute while she thought about it. She was beginning to see some possibilities for next year, things that they could do that Harry would have to know about. "The last problem I can think of, is Harry himself. "What if he's simply not interested in what we're offering? He might have certain moral objections."

Pansy smiled. "That is absolutely not a problem. Once we have Ginny on our side, do you really think Harry would refuse all three of us anything we really want? If it was evil, he would, but this is not evil."

Hermione and Pansy looked at each other while they thought about it. Hermione's smile had a decidedly sneaky air, and Pansy's smirk matched it well. "Let's do lunch, shall we, darling," Hermione said in a vapid voice.

Pansy gave her a sharp look. She leaned over and whispered something in Hermione's ear that had the Gryffindor looking as if she'd just found out that Professor Snape was a male Veela. Pansy grinned at her. "So, you had better not make any offers you're not going to follow through on."

Hermione stared at Pansy. "You mean that? You've done that?"

Pansy frowned at her. "I know it's different, but why are you so surprised? It's not that uncommon, and I know Lavender Brown at least has done it, so you can't be completely unaware of the possibility, even if it's not discussed in polite company."

Hermione flushed crimson. "She's done more than try it. Her bed often has two heads in it in the morning. At least she casts a good silencing spell at night." Hermione studied Pansy thoughtfully. "Is it really that much different?"

Pansy smiled, lost in a memory. "It's better in ways, and not as good in others. It all depends on your tastes. I want something a bit different, but that's another story."

Hermione nodded slowly and Pansy could almost hear the thoughts running through her head. Before Hermione could vocalize any of them, Daphne stepped out of the Floo. She stepped over to Mr. Sharpstar and handed him a parchment. She sighed dramatically as she did. "Oh woe is me," she said in an obviously false despair, "my family has disowned me, since I won't follow the Dark Lord's bidding." She smiled. "That doing so with help protect them from his wrath is just a bonus."

She came over to the corner where Hermione and Pansy were sitting. Daphne looked at them and at where they were sitting, close together. She sighed again. "Pansy, you're plotting something again."

Hermione blinked in surprise. "How did you know?"

Daphne sat down on another stool. "First, she's got that 'I know something you don't' look. Second, she only sits in dark corners when she's plotting and last, Pansy is always plotting something. It's just her nature."

Pansy looked injured. "I don't plot that much," she protested weakly.

Daphne choked and started coughing, strange coughs. "coughnudepicturescough," was followed by "coughglowinghappypeoplecough" and Hermione looked at Pansy, who was blushing.

"Nude pictures and glowing happy people? Are there things going on in the Slytherin dungeon that the rest of the school doesn't know about?" she asked with a smile.

Daphne smirked. "Someone," she said with a pointed glare at Pansy, "traumatized the entire house by creating a picture of Flint's shower in the common area." She shuddered dramatically. "That prat's body is even uglier than his face and his singing reminds me of the sounds of mating Howler monkeys."

Hermione shivered. "That's all I need to know about that." She frowned and bit her lip. "I'm going to regret asking, but what about the other one?"

Daphne and Pansy laughed. "I found an old spell, designed to keep kids from... experimenting with sex. It turns you and your partner a glowing colour if you have sex." Pansy grinned. "It also turned you colours if you're the only person having sex... like Malfoy." She grinned again at the memory. "It took the house three days to figure out how to remove the spell."

Hermione snickered. "You mean Harry was right, calling them Death Wankers?"

Both of the other girls flinched. Hermione just shook her head. "Get used to it. Harry doesn't believe in giving in to fear of a name, and after facing the real thing in the Ministry, I am beginning to understand what he means. It's only a word after all."

The other two looked at each other. "It's not the word that scares us, it's the response that Voldemort will have when he finds out what Harry is calling him these days that scares us," Pansy said. "Harry might be able to shrug off a Killing Curse, but I can't."

They turned as the fire flared again, and Harry flew out, followed in quick succession by Ginny and Ron. The three of them had barely stood up when Blaise stepped out of the Floo, and stepped away from it quickly. "My father is coming, and he's not real happy."

Harry stood next to Blaise and the other Gryffindors lined up with him. They had barely gotten ready when the fire flared and a large man stepped through. He saw Blaise first and started toward him with his wand out. "What do you," he stopped suddenly, faced with six very steady wands. Harry, Ginny, Ron and Hermione had been joined by Pansy and Daphne.

"Sir, I believe your son would like to talk to you. I would prefer that it be politely done." Harry was polite and calm, but his wand didn't waver in the slightest.

Mr. Zabini looked at the wands and lowered his. He looked at the people facing him and focussed on Daphne Greengrass. "You!" he snarled, "You've corrupted my son."

"No," Daphne said serenely, "I've saved him. When all of the people that follow V-Voldemort are gone, Blaise and I will be raising little Montroses in the country somewhere." Daphne had stammered a bit over Voldemort, but she finished it without stopping.

The older Wizard seemed to quiver. "You little bi."

"Father!" Blaise snapped, even as his wand came out, "finish that word and I will curse you."

The older man looked at all the wands facing him and put his away. "You're my son, and my heir, boy. I can't allow you to go off like this. Our Lord won't allow it."

Blaise shook his head. "Your lord, father," he corrected. "For seventeen years, you've tried to make me like you, but I am not you, and I can't walk the path you want me to walk. I will marry Daphne, and I will not follow your lord."

The older man sighed. "Not much I can do about it here, is there? I don't suppose you'd come home and discuss it over dinner?"

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "And be in the dungeon by dessert? You have taught me better than that. I will be Blaise Montrose by sundown, father and married as soon as Daphne and I have our house head's permission. You might want to disown me before that happens, so you can say you didn't have anything to do with it."

Mr. Zabini looked at Daphne. "I didn't think your father would allow you to ignore the Dark Lord."

"My father disowned me, but I found a house that doesn't care about what the snake wants. I am certain that we will be allowed to marry soon."

Mr. Zabini finally looked at the other people in the room with him. He focussed on Harry, his eyes doing the little slide up to his forehead. "You're Harry Potter. I should have known you'd be in the thick of this somewhere. The Dark Lord is going to kill you for this, Potter."

Harry smiled wryly. "Blaise, how many times has Moldywart tried to kill me?"

Blaise frowned. "First year, was second year him as well? OK, third year, you got a break, but he was back fourth and fifth years, and again this last year, but you were secondary. Counting the first attempt, when you were a baby, he's tried to kill you six times."

Harry nodded. "And am I dead?"

Blaise laughed. "If you are, Potter, please give me the name of your undertaker. You look really good for a dead man."

Hermione looked at Harry. "Actually, Harry, Moldywart has tried to kill you eleven times total, unless there is something you have forgotten to tell me."

Harry turned to Hermione in surprise. "Has it really been that many times?"

Hermione nodded and started to detail each attempt, but Harry interrupted her. "I'll listen later. Right now, the Zabinis have the floor."

The elder Zabini looked at the group of kids. "You're not going to allow me to take my son, are you?" The question was obviously rhetorical and everyone remained silent. He looked at the only other adult for the first time. "You're a Solicitor, aren't you?"

Mr. Sharpstar admitted he was. "Fine. You can bear witness that I disown Blaise as of this instant." He looked at Blaise. "I did my best for you, boy, as I saw fit and I'll make no apologies for that. You know that this will put us on opposite sides of a war, don't you?"

"I know, and I had planned on just hiding and hoping either Professor Dumbledore won, or I died of old age before the Death Eaters found us, but now I'll see what Harry wants."

Harry frowned. "I will do my best to keep Blaise out of the fighting, but as you know, Sir, he seems to be quite stubborn."

The elder Zabini gave a sharp barking laugh. "You have no idea." He studied Harry for a long minute and a sly smirk crossed his face. "Blaise, you might want to hang around this Floo for a while. I think you may receive a few visitors."

Blaise stared at his father, recognizing the signs easily. "What are you up to, father?"

"When have I ever told anyone what I was doing, boy? You'll figure it out over the next couple of days, I imagine." He sighed, and for a minute he seemed twenty years older. "I wasn't that bad, was I?"

Blaise shook his head slowly. "You simply chose to follow Voldemort, and I can't do that. Even if I never actually killed or tortured anyone, I would be condoning it by helping, and I can't do that. Other than that, you were a good father." Blaise's voice was quiet and compassionate as he looked at his father.

The elder Zabini turned to the Floo and looked over his shoulder. "You were a good son, and you've become quite the man, Blaise. The Dark Lord aside, I approve of your marriage, and I'll be there if I can. I may be in disguise, but I'll try to be there when you get married. Make sure you send me an invitation." With that, he stepped into the Floo and said something none of the others understood. An instant later, he was gone.

Blaise spent a minute staring at the fire. "He was never evil, as much as determined to be on the winning side, no matter what side that was. Voldemort was clearly winning when father joined him, and father never goes back on his word, once he gives it."

Harry frowned in thoughtful consideration of the scene they had just witnessed. He hoped that not too many of the enemy were merely misguided rather than truly evil. He knew what he was going to do with the Bellatrixs and Snapes, but stupid, trapped or misguided was another story.

Harry spoke to Mr. Sharpstar quietly for a minute. When he was done he turned to Pansy. "I cannot agree to your request, Pansy. The future Mrs. Potter feels as I do, that being a concubine is nothing but legal slavery, and wrong."

Pansy nodded. She hadn't really expected anything else. Harry's next words did surprise her though. "If you will allow me to bring you into the Montrose or Potter house, however, I have received an offer to court you."

Pansy frowned. Marriage to some idiot was not in her plans, unless she could use him, or he was strong enough to control her. She looked at Harry. "Who's this suitor?"

Harry smirked at her. "Harry Potter, head of Houses Potter and Montrose has talked to one Lord Black, who would court you."

Pansy grinned. "I see. I suppose I could at least meet with the gentleman, and give him a chance."

Ginny was staring at Pansy and Ron looked confused. "Who's Lord Black?"

Ginny sighed. "Harry is Lord Black. He's also Baron Potter and the head of House Montrose."

Ron blinked. "I thought you and Harry were dating."

Harry sighed as he looked at Ron. "We are, and we will continue to date. Ginny will marry Harry Potter, and Lord Black will date Pansy."

Ron shook his head. "But they're both the same person," he protested.

"Ron," said Ginny, "just don't worry about it. I know what Harry's doing, and I agree for now. If it becomes a problem, we will discuss it between the three of us." Ginny reinforced her point by glaring at Ron, silently daring him to say anything.

Ron frowned but remained silent. Hermione was thinking about it. "Ginny will marry Harry Potter and become Baroness Potter I assume, Pansy with be Lady Black, but what about the Montrose head?"

Harry shrugged. "He'll be a bachelor." Harry turned to Mr. Sharpstar. "Sir, would you start whatever paperwork is needed to adopt these three, so we can finish this today?"

Hermione coughed. "What? Did you withdraw your offer to me? I was looking forward to being a Black."

Harry smiled at her. "I'm sorry." He turned to Mr. Sharpstar. "These four, I mean."

Mr. Sharpstar looked at the group. "Mr. Zabini will become a Montrose, Miss Greengrass will be a Black, as will Miss Granger, correct?" He looked at Pansy. "And what family name do you want, Miss Parkinson?"

Pansy thought about it for a second. "I'll be a Potter. That way, I don't have to change my monogram until I get married." She smiled at Harry to let him know she was only joking about that.

Harry smirked. "It's a pity Malfoy isn't going to be at school this year. I would love to see his face when Pansy shows up as Miss Potter." He thought for a second and smiled widely. "Not to mention Snape's face, when he found out he had a Potter in his house." He looked wistful for a minute. "Maybe we should send him an owl."

Mr. Sharpstar sat at a desk and started working. Harry sighed, thinking about all the things he wanted to do. He frowned. It was simply too much right now. Hermione sighed. She'd seen that look on Harry's face before. "Harry, sit down and start at the beginning."

Harry looked at her. Hermione was sitting at a desk and had her quill and parchment ready. Harry grinned. "Put it all down in writing, organize it and then make a plan," he quoted Hermione talking about their school work.

He sat down. "Right. First we have to counter Voldemort's hold on publicity. We have to get our side out to the public." Harry went on, discussing all the possibilities and things he'd been thinking about since Professor Dumbledore died, and that had become possible in the last few days.

The rest of the group listened, making the occasional suggestion and offering ideas from their point of view. Harry listened to all of them, using the ones he liked and explaining why he didn't use any he didn't like. Hermione was kept busy writing until Blaise's stomach growled loudly.

Harry looked at the time and the others. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize how late it was. Let's go to the Leaky Cauldron for a late lunch."

Mr. Sharpstar had been quietly listening to Harry's planning. He liked what he heard, but it was going to be dangerous, despite all the precautions Harry was insisting on. "Mr. Potter, the papers are ready for you to sign."

A few minutes later Harry smiled at the others. "Welcome to my families," he said quietly.

Pansy smirked. "Does this mean you're buying lunch?"

Harry sighed in mock sadness. "Not in the family five minutes yet and already she's asking for money." He made a show of checking his pouch and looking at all the people around him. "I think I can afford it this once."

Blaise sighed. "That's good," he said with a quiet smile. "I'm so broke now, I couldn't pay attention."

Daphne looked at him and then at Pansy. Pansy snickered. "He's lying," Daphne said.

"I know," Pansy agreed, as the two girls teased their friend, "his lips are moving."

Daphne's eyes lit up and she started to say something but Blaise interrupted her. "They don't need to know that, Love," he said hastily as his cheeks turned red.

Pansy smiled innocently. "You mean that Daphne considers you a particularly adroit and capable oral lover?"

Harry and Ron closed their eyes, while the girls looked at Blaise with a considering gleam in their eyes. Blaise flushed a deeper red and crawled under the table. "You talk too much, Love," came a strangled voice from under the table.

Hermione smiled slyly. "You do realize," she said curiously, "that hiding under there makes it look as if you're after more of what she's talking about?"

Thump! "Ow!" Blaise crawled out from under the table, rubbing his head. Gathering the tattered remains of his dignity around him, he looked at Harry. "Let's go to the Leaky Cauldron, shall we?"

Blaise ignored the giggles and whispers of the girls all the way to the pub.

_OoOoOoO The Leaky Cauldron OoOoOoO_

At the pub, Harry went to Tom, who was always behind the bar. Harry had spent a couple of weeks living here before his third year and he was very glad of it. Tom had lost the hero worship of the Boy Who Lived, and treated Harry like any other good customer. "Hello, Tom," Harry greeted him, "have you got a corner table for us?"

Tom smiled at Harry. He'd made a great deal of money renting out the room Harry had stayed in and he was always glad to see him. Not just because being friends with Harry was a money maker, but because he was friends with Harry. "For you, Harry, always."

Tom led them to a table and took their orders for lunch. After he was gone Harry had Tonks cast a silencing spell around the table. While she was doing so, Harry watched her with a frown. "Tonks, you've been very quiet. Is something wrong?"

Tonks frowned. "You could say that. While you were at the Burrow, I talked to Pansy about the Dursleys." She looked at the people around the table. Hermione, Ginny and Pansy looked angry, Harry was simply resigned and Daphne and Blaise were puzzled. She turned back to Harry. "How much of it is true?"

Harry sighed. "Seeing as I don't know what she said, I can't say. If she implied that living with them was hell, she was understating the situation."

The three that didn't know about Harry's life with the Dursleys stared at him in shock. Tonks frowned at Harry, wondering if he was exaggerating the problem until she heard Hermione's muttered comment. "Bloody gits. I wish someone would make them as miserable as they made Harry."

Tonks frowned again, not at Harry, but thoughtfully. Hermione almost never cursed, and she was one of the most peaceful people Tonks knew. If she was wishing harm to the Dursleys, it must have been terrible for Harry.

Pansy snarled. "Those mice will pay for what they've done. I just need the right response, since Harry won't let me use the curses they deserve."

The others looked at her. Ginny frowned at Harry. "You should just let us handle it," she said fiercely. "Pansy and I will be more than glad to take this minor chore off your hands."

Pansy smirked. "Of course we will. Harry's going to be busy saving the world. He shouldn't have to deal with such a small affair."

Hermione grinned at Harry. "Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them. If they get too extreme, I'll stop them." Harry sighed in relief, until Hermione's next words. "After all, we don't want the Dursleys to die before we're finished with them."

Harry stared at Hermione in reproach. "I can take an hour out of my schedule to deal with them after I come of age. Tonks even knows what I'm going to do to them."

Tonks smiled as she remembered what had had told her and nodded. "I do, and it's acceptable. I'll say no more about it."

Ron was quiet, watching the Slytherins with a suspicious look on his face. Harry had been watching him and finally sighed. "Would you excuse Ron and I for a minute?" he asked the others. "I think he's about to vent, and I'd rather he didn't do it publicly."

Harry stood up and motioned Ron to follow him. They went outside, and stood in the alley. "What's on your mind, Ron?" Harry was positive he knew already, but he was hoping he was wrong.

"How can you trust them, Harry?" Ron demanded. "They're Slytherins, sneaky, snivelling little worms. Have you forgotten Snape and Malfoy this quickly?" Ron looked at Harry. "Not to mention all the others? Goyle, Crabbe, McNair, all those people who's folks are bringing them up as good little Death Eaters."

Harry sighed. He'd been right, Ron was only upset about them being Slytherins. "Ron, being a Slytherin doesn't mean that they are automatically Death Wankers. There are a good many people in that house who are not Voldemort's followers. Can't you at least give them a chance to prove themselves before you condemn them?"

Ron looked stubborn and folded his arms across his chest. "Harry, Parkinson was a member of Malfoy's group for six years and caused us no end of grief. What more do I need to know?"

Harry was about to reply when he remembered the orb in his pocket. He pulled it out and stared at it. Ron saw it and paled. "How did you get a prophecy, Harry? Who's it about?"

Harry shook his head. "It's not a prophecy, it's a gift from Professor Dumbledore. I think I can ease your mind about the others with it." Harry explained as much as he knew about the aura sight. "So, it should allow me to see how light or dark they are." Harry pulled out the letter from Professor Dumbledore again. He looked at it with the orb in one hand.

_To use this orb, simply hold it in your wand hand and say "absorbere". There will be a moment of blurriness and then it will fade. To use this new talent, all you have to do is allow your eyes to slip out of focus. The blurrier your regular vision is, the better you will see your target. I will assume that you can guess that the person will be more likely to be evil by your standards as their aura darkens. I personally never used this type of sight, preferring to allow a person's actions speak for themselves. I do understand that you may feel that you lack the experience to judge people and might wish to have the help this can offer. You do need to understand that using this sight indiscriminately may cause you to see some things you would rather not know. In example, what would you do if you found Miss Granger or Miss Weasley to be dark? I urge you to think long and hard before you use this, Harry. Once you have used it, you will never be rid of it, until you go on the next great adventure, which I hope is a good many years away._

_Albus Dumbledore_

Harry stared at the orb, weighing his choices. In the end, it was the memory of Professor Dumbledore's final moments that decided him. Professor Dumbledore had been right about Malfoy, but wrong about Snape and Harry simply couldn't afford to be wrong even once.

Harry looked at the orb and cast the spell that would make it part of him. The orb glowed brightly for a second, making Ron turn away and Harry close his eyes. When he opened them again, the globe was gone and Harry felt a momentary tingling behind his eyes.

Harry used a trick Hermione had shown him during fifth year to relieve eye strain and Ron changed. He became a human shaped mass of swirling clouds, looking for all the world like a storm cloud. Ron's aura was a light shade of grey with a white spot centred in his chest and a dark spot right next to it. Harry couldn't decipher the aura and he frowned. For now, he would use Ron as the baseline for his sight.

Harry told Ron to return to the other while he went to the bathroom. In the bathroom, he found a mirror and unfocused his eyes again. Harry was not very surprised to see that his aura was much darker than Ron's but the larger white spot in his chest did surprise him. Harry also had two black spots in him, one that slowly swirled around the area of his chest and one that didn't move, on the right side of his forehead.

Harry went back to the group and looked at them. They were all eating, but stopped when Harry sat down. Hermione sighed. "What have you done now, Harry? You've got that look again, the one that says you've done something not quite kosher."

Harry blinked, staring at Hermione. "Am I that easy to read?" he asked her.

"Harry, I've known you for six very intense years, and every year you are involved in something strange. That, mind you, is strange for Wizards, where the inside of something can be larger than the outside and people can change the physical nature of things by pointing a stick at it and saying a word. Most Muggles wouldn't even believe what you do each year. I would hope that by now, I would know when you're doing something that your Muggle-raised mind thinks is a bit weird."

Harry sighed. "I swear, between you, Ginny and Miss I Spy On Everyone over there, I'm surprised I have any secrets at all." Harry looked at Tonks. "This is not for anyone to know that is not here, Tonks. If I want someone to know about this, I'll tell them." Harry read the indecision in Tonks' eyes. "It's harmless, Tonks, and Professor Dumbledore gave it to me. But, if you don't think you can keep it a secret, just step out of the silence spell for a minute, and that way you can honestly say you don't know anything about it."

Tonks looked at Harry for a long time. On the one hand, Harry was still a minor, involved in intrigues and battles that should by all rights belong to far older Wizards. On the other hand, Harry might be a minor in years, but having an insane Dark Lord trying to kill you every year tended to make one grow up fast. Tonks had been very impressed as she listened to Harry map out his strategy for the next year or so. She looked at Harry and bit her lip. "The Order doesn't have a leader without Albus," she said quietly, "right now they're trying to run it by consensus and it's not working very well. I don't think Professor Dumbledore ever thought about it outliving him."

Harry smiled slightly. "Welcome to the Order Without a Name." He looked at the group and told them about the aura sight he had now. "So, if none of you mind, I want to look at each of you, just to see what people I can trust look like."

Ron and Ginny were the first to agree, with Hermione and Tonks right behind them. Blaise and Daphne looked at each other and shrugged before agreeing. Pansy bit her lip and studied Harry. "What are you going to do if you see something in one of us that you don't like?"

Harry sighed and thought about his own aura. "You'd have to be very dark indeed, to be a person that I wouldn't work with to defeat Moldywart, and I just don't believe anyone here is that dark."

Pansy used her thumb to push her hair back while she stared at Harry. "Go ahead," she said quietly.

Harry nodded and used the eye strain relief exercise Hermione had shown him. The group became the same swirling masses Ron had become earlier and Harry took a minute to look at each of them.

Hermione was a lighter grey, with the white spot in the centre of her chest and no dark spots.

Ginny was about the same colour as Ron, but her white spot in her chest was larger and whiter than Ron's, more like Harry's. Her dark spot was smaller as well, but a bit darker.

Tonks was darker than Hermione, but not as dark as Harry, and she had a dark blob that was larger, while her white spot was a bit smaller.

Harry raised an eyebrow when he looked at Daphne. Her aura was the lightest one in the group, without any dark spots and a white spot that nearly covered her chest.

Blaise was slightly darker than her, but still one of the lightest in the group. He had no dark spots either, and his white spot matched Daphne's.

Harry saved Pansy for last, half afraid he would see something that would ruin his plans to ally with her family. Pansy was a dark grey, but no darker than Harry himself, although her dark spot was slightly larger and darker than his. Her white spot was medium sized, compared to the rest of the group, but far whiter, almost pure white.

Harry came out of the aura sight and thought about what he'd seen. He grimaced as he realized that he'd been surprised to find out that a a pair of Slytherins had cleaner auras than the Gryffindors. He had fallen prey to the house bias that he had been chiding Ron for earlier.

People were people, and ambition in and of itself, was not a bad thing. Ambition only became a problem when it was coupled with a lack of morals and a willingness to do whatever it took to gain the object of those ambitions.

"Harry," said an impatient Ginny, after the party had watched Harry think for a few minutes, "would you mind terribly sharing your impressions with the rest of us?"

Harry blushed as he looked at all the curious faces. "Sorry, I was sorting out what I'd seen and trying to make sense of it. I can tell you that Daphne and Blaise are the lightest people here, and Pansy and I are the darkest."

Ron frowned. "What do you mean? You're not dark, Harry."

Harry frowned as he thought about it. "Professor Dumbledore wrote that I would see people according to my standards and I think us being darker simply means that we would do things to accomplish our goals that the rest of you would not."

Hermione frowned. "If this is a subjective sight, then as your ideals change so will the sight."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Hermione, I don't think my opinion of Death Wankers will change that much in the next year or so. We can worry about that later."

Ron was still thinking, staring absently at Blaise and Daphne. The rest of the group was watching Ron struggle with the thought that a pair of Slytherins were the best people here, by Harry's standards. Ginny was openly smirking at him and the three Slytherins were barely hiding their amusement.

Finally Ron sighed. "I should have known that this would not be easy. Complications seem to like Harry. Every time we try to do something simple, like sneak a Dragon out of Hogwarts, something has to happen to make it more difficult. Why should this be any different?"

Pansy smirked at him. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm the darkest one here."

Ron snorted. "Great. My best mate and a Slytherin are leading the fight, and they're the darkest people on the light side. That makes me feel so much better."

"This is possibly the strangest thing I've seen since the Ministry. Four Gryffindors, two Slytherins and two young ladies I don't know sitting under a silencing spell in broad daylight. Something going on that we should know about, Harry?"

Eight people turned to look at the speaker. Neville Longbottom and his grandmother were standing there watching them. Neville was smiling slightly and his grandmother was frowning at him. "I see three Slytherins, Neville. The only one I don't recognize is the young lady with curly hair there. Introduce us, Neville."

Neville nodded. "This is Harry Potter of course, and the two redheads are Ron and Ginny Weasley. The young lady sitting across from Harry is Hermione Granger, and the two attached at the hand there are Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass." Neville looked at the two he didn't recognize. "I don't know the other two."

His grandmother frowned at him. "You should know the one sitting next to Harry, Neville. Use the family traits."

Neville frowned and the group could see him murmuring something to himself. He blinked and stared at Pansy. "You're a Parkinson, aren't you? But there's only one Parkinson in Hogwarts right now..." He trailed off and they could see him coming to a conclusion. "This just gets more interesting by the minute." He stared at Harry, obviously waiting to hear the story.

Harry grinned slyly. "Allow me to correct your introductions, Neville. Some things have changed. This young lady to my left is Pansy Potter, and the two joined at the hand are Blaise Montrose and Daphne Black. The frightfully intelligent one over there is Hermione Granger-Black. The young lady you don't recognize is a friend who has been known to have pink hair."

Neville was staring at Harry in something close to panic. "Harry, tell me you're not married to Pansy."

Harry choked. "Not yet," he said with a straight face, looking earnestly at Neville. "I have to marry Ginny first."

Neville blinked, searching Harry's face for signs that he was being put over on. "Harry," he finally said with a sigh, "do you ever do anything the normal way?"

Harry started to say something and then stopped, frowning. "I was going to say sleeping, but nightmares and dark lords invading your dreams aren't normal." Harry grinned at Neville. "No, I don't think I do."

Neville's grandmother looked at Harry. Harry looked back and saw a bit of why Neville's grandmother scared so many people. The older woman was staring at Harry as if her glance alone would open Harry's head and give her all his secrets. Her eyes held an high intelligence backed by an indomitable will. He waited for her verdict.

"Neville," she said suddenly, "I think that you can stay and find out this story. Be back at the house for dinner. I will be very interested to find out what Mr. Potter has planned for the Montrose house, since we are related slightly." She looked at Harry. "Neville has learned a lot from you, Mr. Potter. If you need anything over the next year or two while you deal with Mr. Riddle, let me know."

Harry looked at her in shock. "You know his name?"

The older woman's lips turned up in what might have been a smile, although it looked foreign on her face. "I was a seventh year when he was a first year. I still remember him getting his foot stuck in the stair and the three night he spent cleaning toilets for his language."

Harry stared at her. "Old Moldywart had to clean the toilets?" The smile on his face was uplifted, like a knight faced with the Holy Grail. "I have got to get that in the paper. 'Dark Lord cleans bathrooms.' That will defuse some of the fear." He looked at Neville's grandmother with a smile. "If you happen to remember any more stories like that, or know someone that would, I'd like to hear them."

Neville was still stunned by Harry's name for Voldemort. "Did you just call You Know Who Mo."

He was interrupted by his grandmother. "Neville, what have I told you about that?"

Neville blushed. "I'm sorry, Ma'am." He looked back to Harry. "Did you just call Voldemort Moldywart?"

Harry smirked. "Hermione thinks they sound like a punk rock band. Moldywart and the Death Wankers."

"Mr. Potter!" Harry jerked as Mrs. Longbottom snapped severely at him. "That language is inappropriate in the presence of ladies."

"Sorry, Mrs. Longbottom," Harry said, flushing.

Pansy looked at her watch and then at Harry. "If you want that little problem of yours fixed today, I have to be going. I'm also going to need some money."

Harry frowned at her for a second, and then realized that she meant to meet her contact and get them to ignore the under-age magic restrictions on Harry. He looked around and thought. "Pansy, add Ginny, Neville and Luna." Harry thought quickly. The rest of the people that had been in the Ministry with him were of age or about to be so he didn't worry about them. Was there anyone else that he might need this summer? He sighed, thinking about some of the things he wanted to do. "Add Colin Creevy to that list as well."

Pansy wrote the names down and shook her head. "What horrors are we unleashing here?" She took Harry's money pouch and was gone through the Floo in an instant.

The rest of the Gryffindors stared at Harry. He sighed again. "We're going to take a page from Moldywart's book and put ourselves in the paper regularly. He's the only photographer I know that I can control."

Hermione was staring at Harry. "Harry, where did you get all these ideas about publicity?"

Harry grinned wryly. "Uncle Vernon, actually." He reached under his robes and brought out a book. Hermione reached for it. Harry smiled as he let her have it. "I happened to see a program on the telly while I was looking for news last summer about the advertising and ads of a political race. That made me think and Uncle Vernon had that book on the shelf. I took it and read it, several times. It's not like I had much else to do."

"'_Influencing People and Controlling Public Opinion_,'" Hermione read. "A Guide to the Practices of Professional Politicians," she continued. She frowned. "I think I remember this book. There were complaints about the legality or morality of a lot of the tactics in the book."

Harry shrugged. "Since I'm not planning on using any of these ideas in the Muggle press, I'm not worried about that," he said bluntly. "I will make sure that we're not going to get arrested by Wizards, but that is all I'm going to worry about."

Hermione looked up, a frown on her face. "Harry, you're not going to publicly insult Voldemort, are you?"

"Like Moldywart and the Death Wankers isn't enough?" Pansy nodded at Harry as she sat down and Harry smiled. He could do magic now without anyone knowing.

Harry nodded as he answered Hermione. "Often and loudly. I want him concentrating on me, not on the hunters or attacking defenceless Muggles."

Tonks groaned in mock disappointment. "There goes my nice quiet summer." She grinned at Harry. "Thank you, Harry. I think the Weasley twins will be happy about that as well. The Order has been quiet since Albus died."

Harry nodded. "I thought that might be the case, since you mentioned them running the Order by committee. Committees rarely get anything accomplished." Harry pulled another book from his robes. "'_Effective Leadership In a Fast-Paced Organization_' has taught me a few things as well. It was the only other book on the shelf that sounded useful." He handed it to Hermione. "I read it to help with the DA, but it will work in the new Order I'm building."

Ron looked up. "Why are you building a new Order, Harry? I would think that the old one is good enough."

Harry shook his head. "I don't know most of them, and they all have the same problem. They followed Professor Dumbledore. He was older, more experienced and had a reputation that worked. I am too young for many of them, like Mrs. Weasley and too unknown to most of them. I need people that will do things for me without wondering if it is the way Professor Dumbledore would have done it. There are also some people I don't want in the new Order."

Tonks snickered. "People like Fletcher, Harry?"

Harry nodded. "Fletcher, Mrs. Weasley, and a few others that have problems with my age, as well as anyone that will not follow instructions. I will keep my people alive, even if I have to resort to ganging up on Death Wankers and Muggle weapons."

"No, you will not." Several people said it at once. "Harry," Hermione said, "the prohibition against using Muggle weapons is the only true death sentence the Wizard world has. Every culture in the Wizard world agrees on that. No weapon that is not muscle powered may be used."

Harry blinked. "Wait a minute. You collapse a bridge with magic, killing a dozen or more people and get a jail sentence. But use a Muggle firearm, to kill one person, and they kill you?"

All of the Wizard born nodded. "Harry," Pansy said quietly, "not even Voldemort will break this rule. Any magic, even the Unforgivables is preferred to using any weapons not powered by the user's muscles."

Harry frowned as he rubbed his eyes. "Wizards, I swear." He shrugged. "It was only an idea, so it's not that big of a deal." He thought for a minute and smiled. "That only applies to using it on Wizards, doesn't it?"

Pansy nodded slowly. "Yes, why?"

Harry smirked. "I'm going to show my Slytherin side and keep it a secret for now."

Ginny leaned over and whispered in his ear. Harry turned bright red and stared at her. Ginny only smiled and looked at him smugly. "Yes or no?"

Harry stared at her, his face going through an amazing range of expressions. He sighed, smiling warmly at Ginny. His heart was in his eyes as he answered her. "No."

Ginny blinked, and smiled at him. "I wasn't expecting that," she confessed, "but it was the right answer."

Daphne was watching Pansy. Pansy was watching the two of them with a frown. She'd told Daphne that she was worried that capturing Ginny would give Harry to the Death Eaters, so Daphne knew exactly what was bothering Pansy right now.

She also thought she had seen a flash of envy when Harry first smiled like that at Ginny. It was an open smile, filled with love and joy, and not the kind of smile any of Pansy's lovers would have given her. Slytherins would never be so open.

Well, some were, but not the crowd that Pansy had been with for the last six years. Daphne grinned as she thought about the plans Pansy had for the upcoming school year. Slytherin was going to resemble an ant hill being kicked. Repeatedly. Daphne was looking forward to being in Slytherin this year for the first time. She came back to the conversation as the talk turned to the trip.

Pansy was grinning at Hermione and Ginny. "So, Hermione guides us in Muggle London and Muggle fashions while we make sure Harry looks good enough to eat."

Harry groaned and hid his face. "I was hoping you'd forget about the shopping trip."

Pansy poked the jacket Harry wore. "Do you really want to wear Dudley's cast-offs with this?"

Harry looked down. "Fine. You win. Let's get this over with."

In the end, Pansy, Tonks, Hermione and Ginny chose to go with Harry while Ron had something to do at Weasley's Wizard Wheezes and Blaise and Daphne chose to go back to Mr. Sharpstar's office and see what Mr. Zabini had been talking about.

Neville went with Harry, since Harry informed him that he'd get the whole story if he kept Harry company while the women tortured him.

The shopping group bid the others goodbye and was about to start Flooing to Hermione's house when they heard someone call Harry's name. Harry turned and smiled. Luna Lovegood was dressed in robes of bright sky blue and had her wand tucked behind one ear. "Harry, may I speak to you for a minute?"

Harry nodded, relieved to be putting off the shopping trip for even a bit longer. Luna looked at the others. "Hello Ginny, Hermione. Are you helping Harry again?" Luna then looked at the other two. "Hello Tonks, Parkinson. It's a bit unusual to find a Slytherin with Harry."

Everyone stared at Luna. "How did you know who we were?" demanded Tonks. Pansy just sighed. "Why do I bother?" she demanded. "Everyone can see through my glamour."

Luna looked at Pansy. "You're not wearing a glamour." Luna frowned thoughtfully. "I suppose a Nix Jox could have eaten it." Luna made that statement in the same voice as she had said hello. "Harry, my father asked me to ask you about some strange reports coming out of the Ministry. It seems that some people have been formally removed from their families, and at the same time, three other families have picked up new members who have the same first name as the ones being removed. Since at least two of the families getting the new people are yours, father thought you might be able to tell us what's going on."

Harry sighed. "I hadn't realized it would be public this quick. It's a long story, Luna and I need to talk to you and your father anyway, so ."

Pansy interrupted him. "Forget it, Harry. You are going shopping with us right now. If Luna wants to know what's going on, she can just come with us."

Everyone looked at Pansy. "Is that really a good idea?" asked Neville.

Luna looked at Neville. "Why can't I come?"

"Luna, we're going into Muggle London, and you're not exactly dressed for it."

Harry sighed. "Enough. Hermione, we need to go by your house anyway, can you loan her something that will get her by for the day?"

Hermione examined the younger girl for a minute. "Yes," she said, "but my bras won't fit her."

Harry and Neville blushed. "We didn't need to know that, Hermione." Harry said severely.

Hermione looked at Harry. "You don't know anything about women, do you? Without a bra, she'd going to attract attention, as large as she is, and attention is the last thing we want."

Neville looked at Luna in confusion. "She's shorter than I am."

Luna walked over to Neville, facing him so that he was the only person that could see the front of her. Opening her robes, she said, "Hermione means large this way."

Neville was completely frozen for a minute as he looked at Luna. Then his eyes nearly popped out and he turned bright red. Spinning around he shut his eyes tightly. Luna gave his back one of those dreamy smiles that always seemed to grace her face, giving her an otherworldly air. She closed her robes and turned to the others. "I can work that out, Hermione. I would like to see London."

Harry was smirking at Neville. He had looked just like that when Pansy had flashed him, just yesterday. Harry tapped Neville on the shoulder. "You can open your eyes now. She's covered again."

Neville turned around, watching Luna carefully, as if she would attack him at any moment. "She wasn't wearing anything under there, Harry, not a thing." he said in a low voice.

Harry turned to look at Luna again, raising one eyebrow. He knew Luna was a bit odd, but that was more than Harry wanted to know. Neville was still watching Luna, but a new look was in his eye, one of speculation. "She's really quite pretty. How come we never noticed?"

Harry shrugged. "Don't ask me about women. I'm lost there," he admitted. "Ask me about dark lords and defending yourself against them, but I'm fairly clueless about women."

The girls were whispering, with Pansy and Hermione telling Ginny something that made her blink and look at Hermione, who blushed. Luna was simply listening. Harry frowned as the three girls turned to look at him. Ginny and Pansy were nearly smirking and Hermione was red-faced. Somehow, Harry just knew that he was in trouble.

They didn't say anything though, and the group Flooed to Hermione's house without further interruptions. Hermione's mother jumped as people began popping out of the fireplace. Since the first person out was Hermione, she relaxed. "Hello, dear. I swear, I will never get used to that."

Hermione smiled fondly at her mum. "That's what you said about magic, but you seem to have overcome that quick enough." Hermione hugged her mother. "Mum, this is Harry Potter, Ginny Weasley, Pansy Potter, Luna Lovegood, Neville Longbottom and Tonks."

Mrs. Granger was a tall woman with brown hair that fell gracefully to her waist. It was tied back in an elaborate French braid that looked elegant, and her warm brown eyes examined everyone there. She paid particular attention to Harry. "Hello, Harry, I've heard quite a bit about you, and it's nice to finally meet you."

Hermione blushed again and herded everyone up to her room. Harry had always imagined that Hermione's room would be a bed and wall to wall bookshelves, with a desk for doing her homework.

Hermione's room was nothing like that. It had the bed of course, but there was only one bookshelf. There was also a desk, with a computer on it and several pictures, of both Muggle and Wizard styles. One wall had several more shelves on it with various mementos and knick knacks on it, as well as several larger pictures. Harry blinked at one of them. It was a picture taken in the common room and showed Ron and Hermione talking to Harry. The figures in the picture were huddling around, occasionally looking up to see if anyone was listening. What surprised Harry was that Hermione had kept that picture, as the picture Hermione would reach over and hit Ron in the shoulder with a look of annoyance as Harry just grinned at them.

He remembered the conversation, during their fourth year, as they discussed the final task and how Harry was going to deal with it, but since Ron had made a comment about Harry that had been typically Ron, Hermione had not talked to Ron for two days. It was not the kind of memory Harry would have thought Hermione would have kept. Harry still thought of the incident with amusement, as the look of combined shock, pain and confusion on Ron's face as he said "What did I say?" repeatedly had been funny.

Hermione was outfitting Luna for Muggle travel and when she handed Luna a pair of pants, Luna just dropped her robes, causing a choked sound from Neville and Ginny's giggling. Harry only sighed and turned back to the wall, reading Hermione's many certificates of scholastic achievement in the Muggle world, until Pansy came over. She looked at the wall for a second. "She really is brilliant, isn't she?"

"She mixed a PolyJuice Potion in second year that got Ron and I into the Slytherin common room," Harry said with a smile.

Pansy blinked. "And I thought I knew all the things you'd been up to in school. I never knew you'd come visiting us. What were you doing down there?"

Harry grinned. "You're the sneaky one, figure it out," he challenged her.

Pansy frowned at him and thought about it. "Second year? That was the year everyone got petrified," she mused. "We never did get the whole story. Let's see. The Heir of Slytherin was trying to force the Muggles out, and you killed a basilisk." She frowned at Harry. "You were being accused of being the Heir, because you could speak Parseltongue, but we knew you couldn't be the Heir. No Heir of Slytherin would have gone to Gryffindor." She stopped, thinking furiously. "That's what you were after," she exclaimed triumphantly, "the name of the Heir of Slytherin."

Harry smiled at her. "Very good. We tried to get Draco to admit he knew who it was, but he didn't have a clue."

Pansy snorted. "Of course not. Draco hasn't got the twisted mind required for plotting. He's too egotistical."

Harry was about to say something when he realized one of Hermione's pictures had fallen over. He picked it up and was transfixed, a huge grin breaking out across his face. "Colin was there," he said, emphasizing the word was, and Pansy frowned until she saw the picture that Harry held, and then her laughter surprised the others.

Everyone came over to see what Pansy found so funny, and as Harry showed them the picture Hermione blushed. The rest of the group laughed as they watched Mad-Eye Moody bouncing an albino ferret in the courtyard at Hogwarts. "Hermione, I thought you said that this was wrong," said Harry mildly.

"My opinion might have changed since then. I have another one, I was going to give it to Ron as a gift."

Harry cocked his head as he stared at Hermione. "I hope you got me one."

Hermione's face went blank and she spoke in a neutral tone. "You can come over and look at that one any time you want."

Harry studied Hermione curiously. He'd known her far to long not to know when she was avoiding a topic or question.

Pansy and Ginny exchanged glances. Ginny crossed to Harry, taking his hand and putting the picture back on the shelf. "We're ready to go, Harry, and to be completely honest, I can't wait to see you in something that fits."

Hermione had made a call after getting Luna dressed in a pair of Muggle jeans and a blouse, and the result was waiting for them when they went downstairs. A man with a strange suit on was talking politely with Mrs. Granger.

He looked up and smiled. "Which of you would be Hermione Granger?"

Hermione raised her hand and then pointed at Harry. "He's the one paying for this trip though, I just happened to call."

The man looked at Harry and his eyes widened for a minute, and then he shook himself. "Harry Potter? How do you do? I'm Stephen Kingsman, and I'll be your driver today."

Harry turned to Hermione, who anticipated the question he was about to ask. "It's kind of a secret, Harry. The Muggleborn have started networking, keeping an eye on each other and helping out where they can. Mr. Kingsman is starting a Limousine company, and I thought it would be easier to use him than travel by the underground or taxi all day." She blushed. "Plus, having an adult Wizard on the spot to help Tonks can't be a bad thing either."

Harry nodded. "How come I don't know about this network?"

Hermione blushed again. While she was trying to find the words Mr. Kingsman spoke up. "What Miss Granger is trying to say, is that she started the network, mostly by accident. She was emailing or writing every Muggleborn Wizard and Witch she could find,trying to make sure that we knew that Voldemort was back and targeting our kind." Mr. Kingsman smiled at Hermione. "It just sort of grew from there."

"Harry, you knew about Voldemort, so I never had to email or write you about it, and I didn't say anything at school for fear that someone would overhear and tell Malfoy."

Harry shrugged, and patted Hermione's shoulder. "Just drop me a newsletter or whatever you get. I can use the network as well." He frowned, thinking about something. "In fact, I can use a couple of people very soon."

Pansy stood in front of Harry and placed her wand tip under his nose. "Shopping. Now. Harry, go."

Harry almost went cross-eyed trying to look down at the wand tickling his upper lip. "Well," he said carefully, "since you seem to be a little impatient." Pansy lowered her wand and smirked at the others. She was about to say something when she was hit with a tickling hex.

Harry helped her up a minute later with a smile. "Pansy, never pull your wand, unless you're going to use it. If you do point it at someone, make sure you leave them in no condition to do anything when you walk away."

The group that had been in the DA grinned as Harry delivered a lesson on one of the first things they had learned. Pansy nodded and suddenly her wand was back, pointing at Harry.

Before Harry could say anything, she was kissing him, long and hard, with her tongue dancing in his mouth. Just as he started to respond, she pulled away and walked out, leaving him blinking and stunned. "Like that, Professor Potter?"

Harry shook his head and looked at his friends, who were studiously trying not to laugh, except for Ginny who wasn't even hiding her delight. "I'll have to try that in a DA meeting one of these days," she said.

Harry gave his card to Mr. Kingsman who charged the amount to hire the limousine and they set out for 458 Oxford St, home of Marks & Spencer first. They had been planning to go to Harrods, but Mr. Kingsman suggested Marks & Spencer as it was closer and somewhat cheaper.

The trip quickly turned into exquisite torture for Harry. Ginny asked Pansy something about the way Pansy had kissed Harry, and Pansy showed her, using Harry as the example.

Ginny then had to try it, and show Pansy another trick. Having two pretty girls trading his face between them was pleasant enough, but the audience limited what Harry wanted to do after kissing both of them a dozen times.

Pansy was smiling and Ginny and Harry were a little dazed when they pulled up in front of the store. The group piled out and went inside. As they were getting out, Mr. Kingsman spoke to Harry in a low voice. "When you get in there, if something is really bad, say no, no matter how many of the girls gang up on you. Also, buy something you like, just because you like it, even if all of them hate it. You should always have something that is just yours." He winked at Harry. "Us men have to stick together."

The next three hours were a nightmare to Harry as he tried on dozens of things that the girls would pass judgement on. He did say no to one thing. "Pansy, I don't care how sexy it is, I'm not wearing anything with a string in my crack, period."

Harry also bought a set of clothes for him. When Hermione tried to talk him out of it, he looked at the girls. "Ladies, I like it, and I think it will be nice to have, when I go hunting for certain prey. If it's not there when we pay for this stuff, you can pay for it all." The girls looked at the pile of clothing they had chosen for Harry and sighed.

When the damage was done, Harry gave each of the three girls some money. "Ladies, I know I was a prat during this. To make up for it, that money is for you to spend on you. Go get whatever you want." He jerked his head at the limousine. "While you're doing that, I'm going to fill Neville and Luna in on the new plans."

Harry waited until the girls had disappeared back into the store, and told Mr. Kingsman what he wanted. The limousine pulled away a few minutes later.

Harry was standing outside the limousine when Hermione, Ginny and Pansy came back out. Luna was sitting in the back scribbling on a paper and Neville was examining the gift Harry had given him with apprehension. "You're going to get us all killed, Harry."

Harry saw the girls coming and grinned. "Watch this, Neville." Harry tossed his jacket in the car and waited. The three girls came closer and Ginny was the first to react. Her laughter echoed as she read Harry's new shirt.

The front of the shirt had large red letters that read;

_**Moldywart and the Death Wankers!! Coming soon to an Azkaban near you!!**_

The back of the shirt had a list of known Death Eaters and the date they went to Azkaban after their name. Some of them, like "Ferret" Malfoy and "Snivelling" Snape had 'Coming Soon' after their names and the ones that had escaped, like Bellatrix "Batty" Lestrange, had 'Returning Soon' after their names.

The only name that didn't have an Azkaban date by it was Tommy "Ridgil" Riddle, who's column simply said RIPieces.

At the bottom of the shirt was a smaller line, one that said: "This tour brought to you by Harry Potter and the Order Without a Name."

Ginny read the shirt with interest. "Harry, what does ridgil mean?"

Hermione smirked at Harry. "I told you it sounded like a band."

Harry grinned at Hermione and answered Ginny's question, surprising giggles out of her and Hermione.

Pansy just stared at it and closed her eyes. "You're going to get us all killed."

Harry grinned at her as he reached into the limousine and tossed each of the girls an identical shirt. Ginny was the first to dive into the car and start changing her shirt. Harry looked at the other two. "Come on, Hermione, show that Gryffindor side of you."

Hermione sighed. "You just had to put it like that, didn't you?" She joined Ginny in the car.

Harry looked at Pansy challengingly. "What about you? We have a Ravenclawish Gryffindor, a Hufflepuffish Gryffindor, a Slytherinish Gryffindor, and a couple of Gryffindors. Can you be a Gryffindorish Slytherin?"

Pansy was about to say something when Luna came out of the limousine. "Don't forget the Gryffindorish Ravenclaw, Harry."

Pansy eyed the shirt Luna was wearing and groaned. "Give me the bloody thing. Being less Gryffindorish than a Gryffindor is a good thing. Being less Gryffindorish than a Ravenclaw is not." Pansy climbed inside and soon everyone was wearing a Moldywart shirt.

Mr. Kingsman looked at them and sighed. "You are going to take those off before you return to Diagon Alley, aren't you?"

The next stop was another Muggleborn Wizard, who worked as a Muggle tailor. He watched Hermione, Pansy and Ginny arguing about fabrics and colours for a few minutes and murmured to Harry, "which one of the ladies has the most say?"

Harry sighed, grinning at the girls. "what am I doing, and what day is it?"

The tailor looked at him for a minute and smiled. "If this is a day in your life, lad, I'm glad I'm not the Boy Who Lived."

Harry thought back to the times Moldywart had tried to kill him. "I prefer this day," he said quietly, "even if I've spent hours shopping." The last word was delivered in a tone generally reserved for puppy abusers, child molesters and drunken American tourists.

Pansy looked over at him. "Be nice, Harry, or we'll take you with us when we shop for us."

It took the girls nearly an hour to pick out everything they wanted Harry to have and by the time they were done, Harry had already been measured and they left after Hermione gave the tailor her number, so that he could call when the suits were ready.

It was far too late in the day to do any of the other things Harry wanted to do, so they left the limousine at the Leaky Cauldron, after Harry got Mr. Kingsman's number. They walked to Mr. Sharpstar's office, intending on using the Floo to get Ginny and Neville home.

Along the way they stopped at Ortha's Optics and got Harry's new glasses, which came with a scroll detailing how to use the various charms built into them. Harry had been impressed when 'Roger' put the Muggle and Wizard glasses side by side and tapped them with his wand. A second later, the only way to tell them apart was to look through them, as all the scratches and dings of normal wear and tear appeared on the new ones.

Harry was absently trying some of the charms on the glasses as they walked to the Solicitor's office and up the small stairway. They went inside and despite his preoccupation, even Harry noticed something different.

There were nearly thirty people standing in the office, packed into every place in the room that didn't have books on it.

Blaise and Daphne were close to the door and Blaise smiled brightly at Harry. "Hello, Father Montrose. They followed me home. Can I keep them?"

**_OoOoOoO_**

_One house point for anyone that can tell me who those people are, although I think it's obvious._

_Last Chapter, I put an outline in the notes. Just ignore it. It's not going to happen that way. I'm already adding a chapter to finish today out, and Harry has twenty-two things that he has to do before he goes back to Hogwarts._

_For those of you wondering where Moldywart is in this story, remember that it's barely been 48 hours. Moldywart doesn't know what's going on, yet. Harry is going to enlighten him in a way that might cause a few temper tantrums. (It's foolish, but it's also just what a teenager coming into his own would do.)_

_To all of you that read, and said something, Thank you. I would answer your comments here, but doesn't appear to like that. (Which I find silly; if you don't want to read the Author's notes, don't. Of course, they may be worrying about space. One Author's note is small... one million Author's notes begins to take up a lot of space.)_

_To all of those of you who read and didn't review; I'm not going to beg for reviews, but I would like to know what you think about it. Good, bad or indifferent, that you put anything down tells me that I have moved you, one way or another. Like most people that write things for other people to read, I like to know that what I do makes you feel something, even if it is only a short escape from the pressures of your day._

_By the way, for those of you that don't know, Webster's unabridged Dictionary defines Ridgil as;_

_**ridge·ling** (rijÆling), n. Vet. Med._

any male animal, esp. a colt, with undescended testicles.

Also, **ridg****Æling.**

Also called **ridg·el, ridg·il** (rijÆÃl).

1545–55; perh. RIDGE + -LING1, from the belief that the undescended organs were in the animal's back

_In other words, an immature beastie, like... oh say a piglet. I think Moldywart will love it, don't you?_

_Raven_


	5. Discussions, Deceptions and Desertions

_A/N: One year. That's all this story is going to cover in Harry's life. 525600 minutes. Right now, Harry has three hundred and sixty three days before the final battle. Since he's got a bazillion things to do, let's get on with it._

_**Discussions, Deceptions and Desertions**_

Harry looked at all the people standing around Mr. Sharpstar's office and then back at Blaise. "Why don't you tell me who they are first and where they came from."

Blaise shrugged. "Apparently, Daphne and I are not the only ones that feel the dark lor." He looked at Harry. "Right. Riddle is insane for attempting to choose spouses for his followers. These people don't want to marry the people he's chosen either. They would rather use the bolt hole somebody told them about."

Harry sighed. He looked at all the people looking at him and sighed again. Most of them were younger girls, just about fifteen to twenty, with a few young men and nearly a dozen children. Harry looked at the children, and Daphne anticipated his question. "They're here to escape the Death Eaters that..." she hesitated, looking for the words, "play with children."

Harry's head snapped around and he stared at her. "You can't be serious," he protested weakly. Then a thought hit him and he looked at Pansy, who was looking away. She looked at him for a second, and he read the story there, as clearly as if she'd spoken.

Harry Potter knew about abuse. He'd lived through years of it with his relatives, and the only reason he hadn't connected Pansy's flinching with abuse was because she seemed so confident and self assured. The thought of children being abused touched something deep inside Harry, and his fists clenched as he wavered on the verge of accidental magic.

Harry controlled himself after a second and looked at Blaise and Daphne. "You know all of these people, don't you?" His voice was tightly controlled and quiet. Blaise and Daphne were not the only ones that shivered at his tone.

They nodded mutely, watching him apprehensively. Harry sighed, trying to release the anger that he felt. "Tonks, Ginny, Hermione, come with me." He looked at Pansy. "We're going to have a talk. Right now, come with us." Harry stopped by Neville and Luna. "Keep an eye on the new people. I'm going to sort them out in the other room. I want you two to stay out here and keep an eye on the ones out here." Harry spoke quietly, so that only those two heard him. They nodded and found places to stand that had their backs against walls, where they could see everyone.

Harry looked at Blaise and Daphne. "I want you to send these people in there," he said, indicating the conference room, "five at a time. I'm going to talk to them, a few at a time." Blaise nodded.

Harry looked at the people that were watching him, the ones he didn't know. "My apologies, but you'll understand if I want to have some words with you before I offer to bring you into one of my families. Blaise will be sending you into to talk to me a few at a time, and afterwards, we'll do what needs to be done and find everyone a place to stay."

Harry looked at Mr. Sharpstar. "Sir, may I have a couple of words with you in private?"

The Solicitor nodded. Harry and the people he'd asked for went into the conference room and Harry looked at Mr. Sharpstar first. "Is there some place we can hide these people? I understand the Potter Mansion is still intact."

Mr. Sharpstar grimaced. "Unfortunately, it's hidden by wards that will only come down when you come of age." He thought for a minute. "I know a place we can use for a day or two, until we come up with something better."

Harry nodded. "Make the arrangements, and make sure they're well protected. If I accept them, I want them as safe as if they were at Hogwarts." Harry thought about that for a second. "Safer, actually," he said, remembering all the times he'd been hurt there.

Mr. Sharpstar nodded. Harry frowned as he thought. "I'm going to talk to them, and those I accept will let you know what name they want. I want them protected tonight, if possible."

Mr. Sharpstar nodded wryly. "You're going to work me into getting an assistant, aren't you?" he said.

Harry shrugged, saying, "if they only work on things for me, pay them from my vault."

Mr. Sharpstar nodded and left to make the necessary arrangements. Harry looked at Pansy, and then at the others. "Can I ask you to step outside for a minute? I need a quiet word with Pansy."

The other three girls nodded and left the room. Harry looked at Pansy, who was avoiding his gaze. "We will talk, but right now I need you to do something else for me."

Harry laid out what he wanted from her and Pansy smirked at him. "How very Slytherin of you, Harry."

Harry finished his preparations and called Ginny, Hermione and Tonks back into the room, and told Blaise to send the first few in. They entered a few minutes later looking nervous. Harry smiled at them comfortingly. "I'm not going to do anything to you, but Hermione is going to get your name from you, and I may ask you some questions."

He nodded to Hermione, who started writing down their names. While she was doing that, Harry was looking at them with his new gift. These five were what he'd decided was normal, somewhere between light and medium grey, with no dark spots, or very small ones. Their white areas were fairly normal as well, and Harry told them what family names they could choose from and let them go.

It wasn't until the third group that Harry found something different. This group had a tall woman, and she was the darkest grey Harry had seen yet. He was about to tell her that she had to go when he took a second look. She didn't have any black spots, and she did have a single white spot, which matched the man she standing next to. Harry dropped the sight and looked at her. She was looking at him, and Harry had the oddest feeling that she knew he'd judged her, and she had been found wanting.

Harry tapped Hermione and whispered to her. She made a note by a name on her list. Harry beckoned the woman over. "I would like to talk to you, before I accept you."

The woman nodded, staring at Harry impassively. "I thought you might."

Harry frowned as she spoke. She had an accent that Harry almost recognized. He thought back, wondering where he'd heard it before. He looked at her again, and her posture brought back a memory. "You went to Durmstrang's, didn't you?" He had heard that accent before, from Victor Krum.

"I did." She was still impassive, but Harry could see the worried look on the man that was watching them.

He looked at her. "I will talk to you first, before I offer you a place with me. I have to be careful these days. What is your name?"

The mask of impassiveness cracked just for an instant, and Harry saw very real humour there. "I am Miranda Riddle." She watched him blink, and look at her again, and her eyes were gleaming with humour again. "No relation, I assure you."

Harry slowly smiled. "You like doing that to people that know Moldywart's name, don't you?" he accused.

She raised an eyebrow. "Moldywart?" she repeated, staring at him. Harry grinned as her mask slipped again. That name was turning out to be quite fun. She smiled for a second. "I will be waiting to talk to you."

She moved over to one side of the room and the man went with her. They began whispering while Harry ushered out the other three of that group, and the next group came in. Harry looked at them and froze. One of the men had a black blotch on his left forearm, one that looked very much like the one on Harry's forehead. This blotch didn't move either. His entire aura was nearly black as well, and he had the smallest white spot Harry had seen yet. Harry examined the rest of this group, and when he found them to be normal, he sent them out, holding back the Death Eater.

Harry looked at the young man and frowned. He knew him. "You were a Beater for the Slytherin team my third year," he said.

The man nodded. "I'm Emory Bole."

Harry nodded. He reached down and scratched his leg. A second later, a snake popped her head out of Harry's shirt and looked at Bole. "He's a Death Eater," she said flatly. "He had the mark within two months of leaving school and he's big into Muggle baiting. He also had something to do with the bridge collapse."

Tonks, Ginny and Hermione were staring at the snake as she hissed at Harry. Harry listened to her and then looked at Bole. "When Moldywart," and Harry didn't miss the flash of angry fear that name raised, "tried to kill me all those years ago, he gave me a couple of things. One, is this scar and the second was the Parseltongue ability." Harry smiled coldly. "I should thank him for that, as none of the Death Wankers will kill a snake, and Nagini loves to talk to her own kind."

He looked at Bole. "My friend here for example, tells me that you got your mark quickly. I am also informed that you like to bait Muggles and you helped collapse the bridge that killed so many." Harry watched the emotions that ran across Bole's face as he looked at Harry and the snake.

Bole was thinking fast. He had overheard a couple of those foolish girls talking about escaping, and he'd convinced them that he wanted to escape as well, so that he could report back with the location of this hideaway. He'd never expected to meet Potter, and the fact that Potter had spies in the Dark Lord's camp would elevate him to the inner circle, if he could just get out of here. "I did those things," he said, hanging his head.

He looked up. "I had no choice. I would have been killed if I didn't do it. I didn't have any place to run to. You have to believe me." He was nervous about being believed, but all he needed was to get back into the other room, where there was a window and a door. He'd already tried to Apparate, but this office had wards against it. If he could just get outside, he could escape easily.

Harry looked at Pansy. "What do you think?" he hissed at her in Parseltongue. "Is he sincere?"

Pansy was still staring at Bole. "Not a chance," she hissed, "he was so proud of his mark that he went around for three days in short sleeved shirts so everyone could see it."

Harry nodded. Before he could say anything, Hermione tapped him on the shoulder. "Harry, he's a Death Wanker, and no one will miss him. May I have him for an experiment?"

Harry turned, looking at Hermione and barely controlling his surprise. "What experiment would that be?" he asked.

Hermione was examining Bole as if she was about to dissect him on the spot. "He claims he doesn't want the mark, and I think we've found a way to remove it, but I need to test it. He'd be perfect, plus, since this is a bit dangerous, if he dies, no one will care." Hermione was talking calmly, as if she was discussing the weather, and Bole's eyes went wide.

Harry was beginning to get the idea. "I suppose you could use him. I don't see any reason why not."

Tonks sighed heavily. "Harry, you have to give him a chance to surrender to the authorities first," she said. "He might want to confess, rather than let Hermione do those things to him."

Harry frowned at Tonks. "Why? He'll just claim he was under the Imperius, and they'll let him go again. I think he'll make a wonderful test subject."

Hermione smiled. "Great. I'll try to keep him alive, but he may still lose the arm. I don't think he'll have many other side effects, but that's what testing is for." Hermione began spouting something, and Harry just stared at her. He was only catching one word in ten as she talked.

Bole was staring at Hermione in something approaching terror. Hermione said something he didn't understand, except two words. Neutered and his name did not need to be in the same sentence. "Wait," he said desperately, "I want to confess to the Ministry."

Harry just shook his head. "No, I'm tired of capturing people only to have them get off, saying they were controlled. I'd rather let Hermione use you for research."

Bole's eyes widened as Hermione transfigured her quill into a very sharp looking knife. "I wish I had some pain relieving potions," she fretted, "since he'll had to be conscious for this and I'd like to get his feedback. Well, something besides screaming.."

Hermione took her wand and cast a spell at Bole's arm, making a line in his sleeve just above the Dark Mark. Bole looked at it and back at the knife. "Please!" he said, nearly in tears, "Let me confess to the Ministry. I won't claim I was controlled, I promise."

Tonks sighed again. "I'm an Auror, Harry. If he wants to confess, you have to let him."

Harry frowned and looked at Bole. "I think his desire to confess will only last as long as Hermione is his only other choice. As soon as he's out of her reach, he'll have second thoughts."

Tonks nodded. "I can fix that, Harry. I'll be right back." Tonks stepped over to the fireplace and Flooed away. She was back in less than ten minutes with Gawain Robards and two other Aurors.

Mr. Robards, who had taken Amelia Bones' position after her death, looked at Harry. "My Auror tells me you have some thing for me to hear, Mr. Potter."

Harry pointed at Bole. "This man wishes to confess to being a Death Eater," he said.

Mr. Robards sighed. "I don't have time to listen to another story about being controlled, Mr. Potter. Besides, it will simply take up time in the courts, and I have better things to do. Just get rid of him, and let me know where to find the body." He turned back to the fireplace.

Bole stared at him in horror until Hermione muttered, "oh good. Now I can use him."

"Wait!" he cried, "I'm not controlled, I swear! I'll tell you everything." He looked at Hermione, who was examining the edge of her knife and watching Bole like a cat at a mouse hole. "Give me Veritaserum, that will prove it."

Gawain Robards turned around. "Are you offering to undergo the Veritaserum freely, without any official coercion?"

"Yes, yes." Bole said, watching Hermione.

Mr. Robards smiled and nodded to the two Aurors he'd brought with him. They took Bole to the fireplace and disappeared.

They had barely gone when Tonks and Hermione burst out laughing. Miranda Riddle was smiling as well. "It was a trick, wasn't it? You had no intention of experimenting on him."

Hermione looked at her and shrugged. "I actually do have some ideas in that direction," she said calmly, "but I doubt Harry would allow me to try them, as they border on the edge of Dark Magic."

Gawain looked at the people in the room and at the snake peeking out of Harry's shirt. "I think I'd like to know what's going on here."

Harry looked at him, thinking. He wasn't a member of the Order and he was honest. He looked at his aura and he was a very light grey. "Would you like to know right now," he asked, approaching him, "or in three days, after I've stolen a third of Moldywart's people?" The last half of that question was delivered in a low voice, that only Mr. Robards heard.

He stared at Harry while he thought about it. "Mr. Potter, this Saturday my assistant and I will be having dinner at the Leaky Cauldron."

Harry nodded, smiling. "Might you have room for a couple of guests?" Harry frowned. "I can't say how many right now, but there will probably be at least three, maybe more."

"I can always ask for a bigger table. I will be looking forward to dining with you, Mr. Potter." Mr. Robards left through the Floo.

Harry called in the next group and found nothing dark in them. The last group came in, and one of them was a little girl, about seven who kept looking at Harry. She bit her lip, hanging back after the group was passed, as there were no surprises in this group either. "Mr. Potter," she said hesitantly, "may I ask you something?" The little girl was about a meter high and thin, with a willowy grace and long black hair with just a hint of curls.

Harry knelt, so he was at the same level as the little girl. "Of course," he said, "What's your name?"

"Violet," she said earnestly, "momma said that touching your scar will keep the bad man away. He scares me." She looked at him, and her eyes were hopeful and innocent.

Harry smiled at her, caught in that innocence. "Of course you can." She smiled and reached, touching his scar with a one finger.

She traced it and then looked at him again. "Does it hurt?"

Harry was still smiling. "Sometimes," he said, unwilling to lie to this child.

She nodded, biting her lip. She leaned forward and kissed the scar. She looked at him and smiled. "Momma says this a kiss will make the pain go away. Does it hurt now?"

Harry's voice was a little thicker. "No, honey, not now."

She smiled. "That's good." she looked at him serious as only an young child can be. "You let me know if you need another kiss, OK?"

Harry hugged Violet gently, feeling her hugging him back. "I will, Violet."

She smiled at him and started toward the door. She stopped and looked at him. "Can I be a Potter?"

Harry nodded, and she gave him a brilliant smile before going into the other room. Harry stood up and wiped his eyes. Ginny came over and hugged him without saying a word. When she was done, Hermione hugged him. "You're a good man, Harry."

He cleared his throat. "Miss Riddle, I think it's time for our talk," he said.

She looked at him seriously. "Mr. Potter, may I ask what magic you were using, that made you accept all those people without a word?" She frowned, thinking. "It's some type of sight, I think, because your eyes would go a little strange, and then you'd look at everyone. You also knew that Bole was a Death Eater before you talked to that snake."

Harry evaluated the woman for a few minutes. She was the tallest woman he'd ever met, being just over two meters, with dark hair cut short and dark brown eyes that saw everything. "I have a sight that allows me to see certain things about people," he said finally, "and it allows me to see the Dark Mark."

She nodded. "And I am borderline evil to your sight, I take it. That's why you want to talk to me, so that you can decide which way you want to go with me."

Harry nodded, impressed with her reasoning and her blunt honesty. She nodded again. "I was a Dark Defender at Durmstrang's," she said. "I know that you probably don't know what that is, but it is the course that teaches you all the Dark Arts, so that you can defend yourself or another from them."

Harry nodded, searching her face. "But since you do know all those things, you could use them, to be a Death Eater, or other Dark Wizard."

She gave a look of mock astonishment. "You know, I never thought of that, but yes, I believe you could."

Harry liked her sense of humour. "So, convince me that you're not about to run amok, and do things we'd both regret."

She frowned. "You don't know me, so I cannot, except to offer my word." She looked at him. "If that is not good enough, then I will leave."

Harry frowned at her. She was hiding something, or had something that was bothering her, he could feel it. Remembering her blunt honesty, he gave her the same. "Why don't you tell me what's bothering you."

She squared her shoulders and looked at him. "Nobody does anything for nothing, and I know that the hidden cost is likely to be the highest. I want to know what price we're going to pay for this safety."

Harry looked at her, thinking. After a long minute he shrugged. "I have no price for anyone who comes to me for safety. Those people, and you are free to join a family, or go away. If you join one of my families, I expect you to live by the rules of that family, but that is all." He thought for a second. "That, and that you do right, by yourself and the people around you."

She looked sceptical. "Nice sounding words, but forgive me if I find that hard to believe."

Harry blinked. "Are you seriously telling me that you would feel better if we made a deal about you joining me?" he asked.

She nodded. "That way, I know that I can not be asked to do something I don't want to do later."

Harry frowned at her. "You should learn to trust some people," he said quietly, "but if you insist on doing this, give me a minute to think about it."

Harry sighed, pacing around the room as he thought. He looked up and saw Hermione reading the list of people that would be joining Harry. Harry looked at Miranda. "I'll make you a deal, since you want to pay your own way. Hermione there is going to be searching for some Dark material to help me this summer. Some of those things will be trapped or cursed. You help her, protect her over the next year, and that will pay for you and your friend."

Miranda Riddle looked at Hermione. "I protect her for a year, and that's all I have to do? What if I fail, and she gets hurt?"

Harry looked at her and tapped his temple, next to his eye. "I will know if it was deliberate. If it is, I'll deal with that. If it wasn't, then there is no penalty, as long as you did your best."

She looked at him, judging his sincerity. "Deal."

Harry nodded. "I think that concludes our business, and it's getting late. I'm going to take Ginny home, and when I come back, I'll sign the paperwork that Mr. Sharpstar will have for me, and we'll get all of you a place to stay."

Harry stepped out of the room, into the back room and took Pansy out of his shirt. She transformed and put her clothes back on quickly. Harry smiled as he noted that she'd been wearing the knife he gave her. "Thank you for your assistance," he said simply.

Pansy smiled. "I think we work well together, Harry. You go and take Weasley home and I'll talk to the new people and see what happened today." Harry nodded and stepped out into the other room. Pansy smiled again when he was gone. He'd barely noticed that she was in her knickers. A few more exposures, and they'd be ready to show him something new. Pansy's smile grew. Harry was in for a serious shock.

Harry and Ginny entered the Floo, and stepped out in the Burrow, where Harry barely managed to stay on his feet, until Ginny came though and knocked him over. She landed on Harry and he took a second to kiss her.

_**OoOoOoO Mr. Sharpstar's Office OoOoOoO**_

Miranda Riddle looked at her new charge. "Excuse me," she said quietly, "May I ask what your name is?"

Hermione looked at her. "Hermione Granger-Black. You said you studied the Dark Arts at Durmstrang's. Do you know anything about Inferi or Horcruxes?"

Miranda blinked. "Mr. Potter wasn't kidding when he said you would be looking for some Dark things." She thought. "Very little, although there is a book we may be able to find about Inferi. That other, there is nothing written about them, as far as I know."

Hermione nodded. "Do you mind if I ask some other questions about the Dark Arts? Harry will need all the help he can get."

Miranda shook her head. "I am at your disposal, Miss Black."

Hermione looked at her. "You can call me Hermione," she said.

Miranda frowned. "No, Miss Black, I cannot. There are rules to the Defender, and I will not break them."

Hermione frowned, chewing on her lip. "Why don't we start with those rules, and see where we go from there?"

_**OoOoOoO**_

Blaise was staring at the Floo, biting his lip. Daphne looked at him. They'd been friends for twelve years and in love for two. She knew what he was thinking. "They'll be along, Love. Your father wouldn't keep them back there."

Blaise sighed, turning to her. "I have been expecting my sisters since people started coming through the Floo. That they aren't here yet worries me." He studied the Floo again. "Maybe I should go check on them."

Daphne reached up and turned his face toward her and away from the fireplace. "Love," she said sweetly, "if you take one step toward that fireplace, I'll hex you into next year."

Blaise blinked. "Why?"

"Because," Daphne said, "I love you dearly, but you trust too many people, including your father. He is quite capable of holding your sisters until you come looking for them, and then holding you prisoner."

Blaise sighed. "I thought of that," he admitted, "but what if something has gone wrong?"

Daphne put her arms around Blaise. "We'll just have to wait and see," she said, praying she was right. Blaise put his arms around her, and they waited, watching the Floo for six young girls.

_**OoOoOoO The Burrow OoOoOoO**_

Harry kissed Ginny twice and was about to kiss her again, when they were interrupted. "Harry, would you please do that elsewhere? I'm getting ill here."

Harry looked at Ron and grinned. "Now you know how I felt, every time you and Hermione, who's the closest thing to a sister I have, were lip-locked somewhere."

The two picked themselves up and Harry took Ginny by the hand. Ron looked at them and wandered into the other room. Harry looked at Ginny and and smiled. "Ginny, I've been thinking about this for a while. You mean more to me than anyone I know, and I've told you that. Now, I want to show you."

Harry took a small box out of his pocket and dropped to one knee. "Ginny, would you share my life, and be my wife?"

Ginny looked at the ring Harry was holding and then at Harry. Her vision was a bit blurry, but she found his lips and kissed him, trying to make him feel the love that she felt for him. Harry enjoyed the kissing for a minute and then pulled away, looking at her tenderly. He smiled and stood up, pulling her into his arms. "Can I take that as a yes?"

"Yes." Ginny said, and held out her hand. "And you may put that ring on me, Mr. Potter," she said impishly, "before you change your mind."

Harry looked at her, smiling at the gleam in her eye. "This is my mum's ring. It was in the Potter vault, and Mr. Sharpstar was kind enough to get it for me today. I also have the wedding rings." he carefully pushed the ring on her finger, where it sized itself to her.

Ginny examined the ring. It was made of gold and delicate enough that it had to have some magic that kept it from being damaged. The base of the ring was a ruby, cut in a heart shape and being held by two hands that swept around to form the band. Ginny was expecting it to have a crown over the heart, but she looked closer, and it wasn't a crown, but a detailed stag.

Harry watched her examine it. "Is it OK?" he asked anxiously, worried about her opinion.

Ginny looked at him and smiled, pulling him closer. "It's perfect, Harry, because you gave it to me."

Molly Weasley walked in the room just as Ginny was kissing Harry. "Cough, cough," she said, smiling inside as Ginny and Harry appeared to Apparate apart. She looked at Ginny first, and noted the ring.

She looked at Harry, frowning. "Isn't she a bit young for that, Harry?"

Harry blushed, but Ginny jumped to his defence. "I kissed Harry, mum, he wasn't responsible for that."

Molly sighed, "I didn't need to know that, dear, since I was asking about your ring."

Harry and Ginny looked at each other and Harry turned back to Molly. "It is only a ring, Mrs. Weasley. It does not give me anything I didn't have before. I love Ginny, and she loves me. Sometime after she's done with school, we will get married." He looked at Ginny with a smile. "I am just making sure she knows how I feel." He grinned suddenly. "The fact that this will take me off Witch Weekly's 'most eligible bachelor' list is only a bonus."

Molly looked at them and sighed. "As long as you understand that that ring doesn't entitle you to anything, and you're going to wait until she's out of Hogwarts, I suppose it can't hurt."

Harry smiled at Ginny. "I don't think the ring has anything to do with what Ginny wants. The ring is there for other people to see how we feel about each other, not for us. I see how she feels every time she looks at me and I hope she knows how I feel, with every thing I do."

Ginny smiled sweetly. "I do, even if it took you six years to notice me."

Harry blushed and grinned. "I'm a guy. Sometimes it takes us a little longer to notice subtle things, like feelings."

Harry sighed, becoming serious. "I have to get back. I have people to hide from Moldywart. Mrs. Weasley, may I pick up Ginny tomorrow?"

Molly Weasley frowned. "Explain to me about hiding people from You Know Who first."

Harry explained about Voldemort's command, and how Harry was taking people in that didn't want to follow his instructions. Molly frowned. "Harry, he's going to be very angry about this. Won't he come looking for them?"

Harry nodded. "He might, but we're taking every precaution. I'm going to _Fidelius_ all of them in the next couple of days, until Voldemort is gone."

Molly was beginning to worry about the things Harry was doing. They were designed to annoy You Know Who and that meant he would be doing something about it. Molly Weasley was a wonderful mother, but most mothers have one small problem, and Molly was no exception. She was unwilling to let her children go as they grew up.

"Harry, I'm sorry, but if you want to see Ginny this summer, you'll have to come here." Ginny turned toward her mother. "Mum?"

Molly looked at her baby and only daughter. "It will be dangerous out there with all of this going on, dear. I don't want you getting hurt."

Ron came back into the room at that point, and Molly remembered what Harry had said about Ron and the Quibbler this morning. "Ron," she said, making a hasty decision, "I'll need you around the house this summer."

Ron frowned at her. "Mum, I was going to work for Harry this summer. He needs me."

"Ron Weasley, I am your mother, and I need you here." Molly was beginning to get a shrill tone that all three of the younger people recognized.

Harry sighed. "Ron, mate, it's OK, I'll find someone else."

Ron looked at him. "Harry, are you saying you don't want me to help you?"

Harry shook his head. "No, but I don't want to cause problems in your house, either. If Mrs. Weasley needs you here, I'm not going to argue with her."

It was Ginny that spoke up next. "Mum doesn't need us, Harry. She just wants to wrap us in cotton and keep us in a box, where we'll be safe." She looked at her mother. "Isn't that right, mum?"

Mrs. Weasley looked at Ginny. "Ginevra Weasley, you will not take that tone with me."

Harry was watching and started to say something, but Ginny stopped him. "Harry, you go on and take care of your new families. They need you, and this is a Weasley problem right now." Ginny saw the flash of hurt on Harry's face. She crossed to him and hugged him. "I didn't mean you weren't one of us, Harry. I love you."

She turned to look at her mother. "The problem is hers, not yours or mine, or even Ron's. Mum, I think we need to have a talk." She turned back to Harry and kissed him lingeringly, ignoring Ron's retching sounds. "You go ahead, Harry and I'll be along when I can." She turned back to her mother.

Harry frowned, but at Ron's nod, he Flooed back to Mr. Sharpstar's office.

_**OoOoOoO Mr. Sharpstar's Office, just after Harry left. OoOoOoO**_

Nicholas Sharpstar was enjoying himself. He'd always enjoyed the practice of the law, but anything that twisted Moldywart's knickers had a special place in his heart. His eyes flickered for a second to the picture of his wife, dead in a Death Eater attack all those years ago. Harry Potter's accounts had been given to him by Professor Dumbledore simply because the Headmaster had known that he would rather die than help the Death Eaters at all.

Now, Harry Potter was not just twisting Moldywart's knickers, he was filling them with ants and setting them on fire. Mr. Sharpstar was not going to miss this. He'd never tell Harry this, but for the privilege of helping do the things Harry wanted to do, he would work for free.

Right now, he was collecting the names of all the people that Harry had accepted. The one Death Eater was gone of course, but that still left twenty-nine people that had to formally disown their previous families, choose new names and be adopted. That was a lot of paperwork.

_**OoOoOoO**_

Hermione was talking to Miranda, and the more they talked, the larger Hermione's headache got. Harry had made a deal with Miranda to watch over Hermione, but not knowing the rules of the game he was in, he'd worded the deal improperly. Miranda was going to protect Hermione for a year, period.

Hermione knew that Harry had only meant for Miranda to protect her during the time she was actually in the Black house, looking for the Dark magic books, but Harry hadn't worded it like that, and Miranda had taken Harry's words literally.

Hermione finally gave up on changing Miranda's mind. The woman was every bit as stubborn as Harry. Hermione grinned at that thought. She'd like to see these two in a disagreement. Harry wouldn't attack a friend, and Miranda, under her particular Defender rules, couldn't initiate an attack except to protect her charge. That meant they'd being arguing with words until one of them gave in, or one of them starved. Hermione grinned slyly. She'd bet on one of them starving first.

_**OoOoOoO**_

Blaise paced, his fear for his sisters growing as the time passed. Daphne tried to calm him, but it simply wasn't working, until the Floo flared and a small girl stepped out, her face a mask of fear and tears.

Blaise dropped to his knees, and the girl saw him. She ran to him and he folded his arms around her. The Floo flared again, and another girl stepped out. Right behind her, three more girls stepped out in quick succession.

Blaise frowned as he took in the tears on all their faces. Still holding the littlest one, the one that had come through first, he looked at the oldest. "Where's Lucinda?" he asked, fearing the answer, but having to know.

The renewed tears of the girls was all the answer he needed, and he took a deep breath. He wasn't done being shocked though, as the oldest girl reached out and handed him something. He took it automatically and looked at it.

He closed his eyes, his mourning increased. He held the Zabini crest ring, that only the head of the family wore. "Father said to give it to you," his oldest surviving sister said. "Father said, 'tell Blaise that I was wrong, I won't be at the wedding. Take the ring, and in the years to come, show it to your children and their children. Tell them my story, of foolishness and pride. Tell them why the Zabini name is gone, so that none of them ever make my mistakes.'" She looked at Blaise. "Father wasn't telling us anything, Blaise. What is going on? Why did our friends turn on us? What did he mean, the Zabini name is gone? You're still here."

Blaise sighed and took his sisters into the conference room to tell them what had happened.

_**OoOoOoO**_

Harry stepped out of the Floo and smiled. He was getting the hang of this Floo travel. He'd stayed on his feet this time. He looked at the silent group and noted two things. Daphne was crying and Blaise wasn't in sight. He looked at Daphne, and she told him what had happened.

Harry sighed. "Mr. Sharpstar, if any of Blaise's sisters want a name, offer them the Montrose name first and tell them why. If they don't want a new name, keep them with Blaise anyway. House Montrose will take care of them."

Mr. Sharpstar nodded. He handed Harry a stack of parchments. Harry looked at them and started signing. When he was done he looked around. "Where is my new family, anyway?"

Mr. Sharpstar handed him a sheet of paper. Harry read it and nodded. "You're sure they are safe there?"

The Solicitor nodded. "I've used this place before, and they are perfectly safe there."

Harry nodded. He looked around. Neville and Luna were standing in the corner, talking quietly. Harry crossed over to them. "Why don't you two go home for the night. We can meet up in the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow morning."

Neville nodded, looking at Harry. "We're going to end this soon, aren't we?"

Harry looked at Neville, and saw few signs of the awkward boy he'd been. "We are. I want to have a normal life, taking care of my families and doing things because I want to, not because I have to."

Neville sighed. "So, which of us is going to get Bellatrix?"

Harry looked at Neville for a long minute, and there was no wavering of his resolve. "You can have her. I'm going to get Snape and Moldywart, you get the Lestranges, and hopefully, we can wrap Pettigrew up for Remus."

Luna was staring at the wall. "I want Malfoy, if you don't mind."

The other two turned to her. "Do you mind if I ask why," Harry said.

"He did something to a Ravenclaw last year, and while I promised never to tell anyone, I didn't promise not to do something to him in return, so that she can sleep better."

Harry and Neville shrugged. "We don't mind," said Harry. "I will insist that you come to DA meetings, so that I can make sure you're up to the task though."

Luna smiled and wandered into the Floo. "Thank you, Harry. I'll see you tomorrow, Neville." "Snorkack refuge," she said and was gone. Harry and Neville looked at each other and shrugged.

Neville held out his hand and Harry shook it. "I'll see you tomorrow, mate," Harry said, and Neville grinned at him before stepping into the Floo and disappearing.

Harry turned around as Blaise and his sisters came out of the conference room. Harry crossed to Blaise. "I'm very sorry for your loss," he said quietly. "Will you be staying with your sisters tonight?"

Blaise nodded. "If you don't mind, they'll all be in the Montrose House."

Harry nodded, smiling slightly. "I've already told Mr. Sharpstar that they could be in your house."

Blaise looked at Harry. "My house? You're the senior Montrose."

"I am, but I am going to be extremely busy for the foreseeable future, and you will be the House head while I am busy. If you do well enough, you will keep the title, and I'll just be another Montrose." Harry sighed. "Not to mention that I don't think I could treat three houses as fairly as they deserve. You would take care of the house better, simply because you have the time to talk to your family and do things with them." Harry smiled at Blaise. "Unless you want to change jobs? I'll be the Montrose house head, and you can deal with Voldemort."

Blaise shook his head. "No, thank you for the offer, but I'll deal with the house."

Blaise went with Mr. Sharpstar to stay where ever the girls were, and Harry sat down. He was thinking about all the things that had happened today and rubbing his neck. He felt Hermione move up behind him and she moved his fingers. "It's easier for me to do this, Harry."

Harry sighed as Hermione's fingers massaged the knot in the back of his neck. He looked around. The only people left were him, Pansy, Miranda and Hermione. Pansy was sitting in a chair looking at Hermione's notes from earlier. She looked up. "You're going to focus Voldemort on you and the people around. What are you going to do to keep them safe?"

Harry sighed. "Most of the people that are accessible will be hidden under the Fidelius Charm. I am planning on letting the heads of the families Fidelius their families, so that no one but them selves know where they are, and then I will Fidelius the family heads, adding another layer of protection to the families."

Harry frowned as he looked at the three girls. "The only people I am worried about are the ones that I can't protect, but most of them will be at Hogwarts. Since we're all going to be there, we'll be able to look out for each other at least."

This was the first Hermione had heard about Harry's plan to return to Hogwarts. "Harry, do you mean we're returning for our NEWTs? I thought we were going to go Horcrux hunting."

Harry shrugged. "That was before everything started changing." He explained the new idea he'd had, and what Professor Dumbledore had said in his letter.

Hermione frowned and started a new list. "I haven't even gotten my books yet," she fretted. "I'm at least a week behind in my studies."

Harry was used to Hermione's obsession with studying and merely smiled while Pansy and Miranda looked at her in disbelief. "Hermione," Pansy said, "are you seriously planning on studying all summer?"

"Of course," Hermione said without even looking up. "The NEWTs are very important." She did look up then. "It wouldn't hurt you two to start your studies either."

Harry and Pansy shared a look. Harry had a war to win and a thousand things to do this summer, and Pansy would be right with him as he did most of them. "Hermione, " Harry said patiently, "I'll try to make a bit of time, but I really don't think there will be a lot of time for study."

Hermione looked up at him. "Don't worry, Harry, I'll help you make a schedule that will allow you a bit of study time at least."

Harry just shook his head, knowing that Hermione was just being herself with the schedules. He was about to say something to her when Dobby appeared in the middle of the room. "Harry Potter Sir," the House-elf said, "Dobby and Winky have been busy and Harry Potter Sir needs to see."

Harry blinked at Dobby's air of eager anticipation. "We'll be there as soon as we can catch the Knight Bus, Dobby."

Dobby shook his head. "Harry Potter Sir is a great Wizard. He is not needing to use the Knight bus. Harry Potter Sir is on the Floo Network."

Harry and Hermione stared at Dobby. Harry shrugged. "Pansy and I have been noticing that the House-elves are far more magical than anybody has really noticed," he told Hermione, "and I suppose we should go see what they have done."

The four of them waited for Mr. Sharpstar to return and told him what Dobby had said. Harry got his Floo address from Dobby and gave it to Mr. Sharpstar with a blush. The Solicitor merely wrote it down with a straight face until the four young people had Flooed away.

Nicholas Sharpstar looked at the address after they were gone and smiled broadly. "'Harry's Magnificent Mansion' indeed."

_**OoOoOoO Harry's room. OoOoOoO**_

Harry was the last person to use the Floo and when he stepped out into 'Harry's Magnificent Mansion', he thought at first that he had come out in the wrong place, as he had the first time he used the Floo.

Then Harry saw the girls looking around the room and Dobby standing there as well.

Harry blinked several times as he looked around what had been the smaller bedroom of Privet Drive. It was now a room ten metres across, with several doors in two walls. One of the doors had a large bar across the inside and Harry assumed that was the door that led to the rest of the house.

"Harry Potter Sir," called Dobby, from his place near one door, "this is your bedroom now, Harry Potter Sir." Harry looked around the room one more time, noting the fireplace he'd stepped out of and the table that would sit twelve, as well as the two couches and chairs in one corner of the room.

Harry opened the door Dobby was next to and had to smile. The room on the other side was nearly the size of his room in Gryffindor, but it had only one large bed. There was also an owl perch for Hedwig and some other furniture. Harry pointed at the door in his bedroom, but Dobby anticipated his question. "Harry Potter Sir has his own bathroom."

Hermione and Pansy were examining the other doors, which led to similar rooms, each with its own bathroom. The only real difference was that the other bedrooms were slightly smaller than Harry's room. Harry examined one of them and turned to Dobby and Winky, who were watching him anxiously. "Dobby, Winky, this is great. You had done wonders here. Thank you."

Dobby began bouncing while Winky just smiled happily. "Harry Potter Sir is a great Wizard. He is thanking Dobby."

The four of them wandered around the room until Winky told them that dinner was ready and they sat at the table and ate. The talk was light, as they decided that they would not discuss all the things they had to do over dinner.

By the time dinner was over, Harry was yawning and soon said good night. Pansy and Hermione sat before the fire for a bit longer and Flooed to her house. Pansy thought about joining Harry again, but decided that it would be better to give Harry another day or two to get used to her ways before she tried to take him to the next level. Pansy left a note for Harry and stepped into the Floo.

She had barely been gone five minutes when Ron stepped out of the Floo. He'd gone to Mr. Sharpstar's office looking for Harry and had been told about the Floo. Dobby popped up and looked at him. "Is wheezy staying with Harry Potter sir?"

Ron sighed, his face a mask of sadness. "Yes, Dobby. I'll be staying with Harry for a while."

Dobby showed him to a room and Ron took his shrunken trunk and sat it in the corner to unpack tomorrow.

_**OoOoOoO The Burrow, just after Harry left. OoOoOoO**_

Ginny looked at her mother. "Mum, why are you trying to keep us away from Harry?"

Molly Weasley frowned at Ginny. "Because you are too young to be facing the kind of danger that Harry will be drawing to him this summer."

Ron just stood and listened to them with half of his attention as he thought. Ginny nodded. "I see. Mum, how many times have you actually faced Death Eaters?"

"I haven't faced any and you know it." She turned to the stove. "It does not matter what you say Ginevra Weasley, you're not going to be leaving the Burrow."

Ginny's eyes narrowed for a minute and she opened her mouth, ready to scream at her mother. She closed it suddenly and and a cold mask fell instead. "Mum, I am going to ask you if that is your final word on this."

Molly continued to cook as she spoke. "It is, Ginny."

Ginny nodded. "Fine," she said in a calm voice. "Since you do not trust Harry to keep me safe, or my particular abilities, I won't ask again. In fact, I won't bother you at all." Her voice changed, flaring with the anger she was trying not to show. "I will also tell you this, mother. If you keep me from Harry this summer, I will not speak to you again, ever. In addition, the day I am of age, I will leave this house and never return." Ginny walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to her room, where she laid on the bed, blinking back hot tears.

Ron was struggling with his own dilemma. He loved his mother, but Harry needed him, and Ron had to be there, as he had every time Harry needed him, since the night they'd beaten a troll in their first year. "Mum," he began, only to stop as his mother spun.

"Ronald Weasley, don't say anything. I said I need you here. If you choose to leave, just don't bother coming back." Molly Weasley was getting desperate. She didn't want her children hurt, but they were bound and determined to stand in danger's way.

Ron sighed as he looked around the Burrow. He went upstairs and looked around his room. Sitting on the bed, Ron thought about his options. Finally he made his decision and packed his trunk. Shrinking it and going downstairs, he looked at his mum. "I don't expect you to understand, mum, but I have to go. If I didn't go, and something happened to Harry or Hermione, I would never be able to look at myself again. I love you, mum, but I have to do this."

Molly didn't say anything, and Ron sighed as he went to the Floo. Molly turned, crying, "Ron, wait."

She was an instant too late, as the Floo flared and Ron was gone.

_**OoOoOoO Somewhere in England. OoOoOoO**_

"Malfoy, get out of my sight or I will kill you." Snape's threat was all the more chilling, since it was delivered in the same tone that one might comment on the weather. Severus Snape, former Potions Master at Hogwarts, looked out the window at the Muggles and wondered just how he'd sunk so low as to have to share a room with Draco Malfoy in a Muggle slum.

He heard the door open and ignored it. It could only be the brat's father, as he was the only person that knew where they were. He ignored them both while they talked. He wasn't a spy any more, he didn't have to do anything, or listen to everything that went on around him.

Of course, he was going to get a Dementor's Kiss if he was ever caught. Damn that Potter brat. How had he seen Dumbledore's death well enough to convince the Aurors that Snape had done it? Snape stared out the window and his thoughts were full of plans of vengeance against Potter.

In the other room, Lucius was filling Draco in on the happenings of the week. "So, the Dark Lord has decreed that you will marry Millicent Bulstrode within the month."

Draco nodded, staring at his father. "What of the agreement with the Parkinsons?"

"They will understand that the Dark Lord's commands come first. After all, the Parkinsons will not kill us for breaking what is, after all, only a verbal agreement. Besides, Pansy has been given to young Crabbe."

Lucius bent his head closer to Draco. "I also have a surprise coming for you in a couple of days. We've found a way around the wards at the Weasley hovel." Lucius smiled cruelly. "After the reports of that Weasley brat seeing Potter, the Dark Lord wants her and we have been given the privilege of guarding her until the Dark Lord is done with her."

Draco smirked. "I will enjoy guarding Weasley. I think she might make a good mistress, once she knows that no other Wizard will touch her."

Lucius shrugged. "Don't get too attached to the girl. The Dark Lord may want to kill her in front of Potter before he kills him."


	6. Agreements, Arguments and Annihilation

_A/N: Two days down, three hundred and sixty-three days to go. Things are going to start happening very soon._

_**Agreements, Arguments and Annihilation.**_

Harry woke up in the morning and used his new bathroom, taking a shower and getting ready for the day. He was thinking about the meeting in the Inn at Hogsmeade today and wondering just what was going to happen. He went back into the bedroom and saw a note he had missed when he woke up.

_Harry,_

_Come to Hermione's room when you get up._

_Pansy_

Harry shrugged and went out of his room. He looked at all the bedroom doors and wondered which one was Hermione's. "Dobby," he called and Dobby was there almost before Harry said anything. Harry smiled at him and asked where Hermione had slept last night.

Dobby pointed out a room and Harry thanked him. He crossed to the room and knocked on the door, going inside when the door opened. He turned , expecting to see Hermione, but Pansy was behind the door, dressed, or undressed in only her knickers again.

He blinked and turned his back. "Good morning, Pansy," he said, trying to act as though he walked into rooms with half naked women all the time. He looked around for Hermione, but she was not in sight, and Harry assumed she was in the bathroom.

"Good morning, Lord Black," Pansy said and tugged on his arm until he turned around, carefully trying to keep his eyes above her chin. That became a lot easier a second later when Pansy hugged him and put her face up. "I would like for my suitor to give me a kiss," she said archly. "At least the first time he sees me every day."

Harry blinked and blushed. "Uh."

Pansy sighed. "Harry, I'm not asking for undying passion right now, but a kiss is a nice thing to get first thing in the morning, and as long as I am being courted, I would like it." She looked at him and sighed sadly, as her eyes seemed to well up with tears barely being held back. "But if I'm too ugly for you,"

Harry interrupted her, "No, it's not that, I just, well, to be honest, I haven't kissed that much and."

Harry was babbling and Pansy placed one finger over his lips. "Shh, Harry."

Pansy moved her hand behind his head and kissed Harry, pressing her lips to his and softly kissing him, not demanding anything, but allowing him to take control of the kiss when he got over his shock.

After Ginny and Pansy had kissed him several times in the limousine the day before, Harry was far more comfortable kissing Pansy than he was the first time Pansy had kissed him and he responded after a second.

He was beginning to get into the kiss when Hermione opened the bathroom door. "Pansy, is.. Oh, good morning, Harry."

Harry pulled away from Pansy and turned to look at Hermione. He saw her and froze. Hermione had apparently just come out of the shower, and was crossing to the closet, wearing only a towel that barely covered her bum. It was tucked around her breasts and and Harry saw more of Hermione's skin than he had in all the years he'd known Hermione.

He turned back to Pansy, "Good morning, Hermione," he said, remembering what Pansy had said about skin. He frowned, forcing himself to think about the meeting today. "Hermione, you are coming with Pansy and I today, right? I would like to have you and Ginny there, but since Mrs. Weasley won't let Ginny or Ron come, I really want you there."

Pansy had stepped away from Harry and was putting her bra on as Hermione's voice came from behind the closet door. "Of course I'll be there, Harry." Hermione came out from behind the door dressed in lacy white knickers and bra, and sat down at the mirror, picking up a brush. "Are you going to let Pansy and I pick out a nice outfit for you today?"

Harry took a minute to process what she had said, his mind more interested in Hermione's clothes, or lack of clothing to be honest. He shook his head and wondered why Hogwarts had to wear those robes. Girls looked much more interesting with fewer clothes on.

"Since my fashion sense is non-existent, of course I will," Harry said, frowning as he thought about what they were doing today. He looked at Pansy, who was dressing. "Tell me about the people that will be there today."

Pansy frowned. "I would assume it will be the heads of the five families, and possibly a couple of the larger families that are related by marriage."

Hermione watched Harry and Pansy discussing the families and smiled. Pansy had been right, Harry did notice her, and that was all they wanted, right now. She finished dressing, not worrying about what Harry saw or didn't see. Pansy's plan was not to get in Harry's face, but to slide little things in front of him, allowing him to become accustomed to their ways and actions.

She listened to the other two talk, filing what she heard away in case Harry needed to be reminded of something later. Hermione had been there with facts and information for Harry since he'd thrown himself on a Troll to save her in their first year, and despite Harry's blindness, she'd be there for him whenever he needed her. She had wanted to hex Ron fourth year. Any fool should have known that Harry would never have put his name in the Tri-Wizard's Tournament.

Harry would never have been interested in risking his life in a game, not with Voldemort after him every year, and more than enough insanity in his life. He might have thought about it, but he never would have tried to do it. Harry wanted to be just another person so badly that Hermione couldn't understand how anyone that had met him could think he was a 'glory seeker', 'wanting attention', or any of that other junk they printed about him.

The three of them went out into the main room and Dobby popped up. "Harry Potter Sir, you must sit and eat. Harry Potter Sir is not eating right without Dobby watching."

Harry sighed. "Yes, Dobby." He sat down as the girls followed him to the table, smiling as Dobby put on a good imitation of Molly Weasley, fussing over Harry.

Pansy was watching Dobby and thinking. She had never really thought about the House elves as anything, they were there, but they were like the floor. Unless there was a problem with it, you never thought about it.

Dobby and Harry were friends though, and Dobby was doing things for Harry that Pansy hadn't even known that the House Elves could do. Her father had been equally surprised last night as well. She had gone to see him and give him her impressions of Harry.

Pansy looked at Harry, talking to Hermione about the Horcrux hunt and how they would deal with looking for them. Harry was so very much more than just a Gryffindor. Pansy, like most people in Hogwarts, assumed that people were their houses. Gryffindors would be brave, Slytherins would be sneaky and ambitious, and so forth.

Harry's planning yesterday had shown a remarkable mind though, and some of the ideas he had were worthy of any Ravenclaw, and she'd already seen his Slytherin side. The whole school knew that he was brave of course, even the rumours coming out of his encounters each year could tell anyone that.

That he was fiercely loyal to anyone that was loyal to him was another facet of his personality that had escaped Pansy's notice, and that of most people she was sure. And yet, that loyalty might well turn out to be the single most important part of him.

Pansy had warned her father not to lie to him today, or try to play the games that diplomats and negotiators had played for years. Harry would not play those games, applying straight logic and plain talk to any situation he was in.

Those shirts were a case in point. Pansy was still shaking her head over Harry's plan for the shirts, giving one to every member of the DA to wear while they trained. His other plan concerning those shirts didn't even bear thinking about.

"Earth to Pansy." Pansy blinked, looking at Harry and Hermione, who were staring at her. "I asked you if you knew how many people your families would have around the Inn for security," said Harry dryly.

Pansy shrugged. "Probably more than they would have a couple of days ago," she said after a minute's thought. "The people disappearing from his ranks will make Riddle nervous, and they will want to be able to hold any attacks off until the family heads can escape. I would say at least a dozen."

Harry nodded. He got up and crossed to the fireplace. Taking a pinch of the Floo powder, he fire called Tonks and spoke to her for a few minutes. When he was done, he stood up and got a bit more. One more fire call later, he stood up and came back to the table. "Tonks and Shacklebolt will be joining us today, and Mad-Eye is collecting Professor Lupin and Dedalus Diggle. He assures me that both of them will work for me. I would like to have Ron, Luna and Neville as well. Hermione, would you try to fire call them after you're done eating? I'm going to step over to Diagon Alley and talk to Fred and George, and see about getting a couple of things. Do either of you need anything from the Alley before the meeting?"

Before the girls could answer, two more doors opened almost simultaneously, and Ron and Miranda Riddle came out. Ron was yawning and still rumpled from a night of too little sleep, but Miranda was neat and clean, dressed in something that looked almost like body armour. It was some sort of thick leather that covered her upper body completely, with thinner leather over her arms and legs. She looked around and came over to sit next to Hermione. "Good morning Miss Black," she said as she helped herself to some of the food. She looked at the others. "Good morning Mr. Potter, Pansy. Mr. Weasley."

Harry blinked at her. "Why are you here? I thought you would be with the rest of the people that joined the families yesterday."

Hermione grinned, looking forward to this conversation. Miranda just looked at him. "You asked me to guard Miss Granger for a year. Nothing was said about what day to start, so I started yesterday."

Harry stared at her, thinking about the deal he'd made with her. "I only meant for you to guard her while she was in the Black library, or looking for Horcruxes," he said mildly.

"Possibly," agreed Miranda, "but that is not what you said, and I have agreed to the deal we made. I will not go back on it."

Pansy looked at Harry. "Harry, give it up. Miranda is working, and you'd have a better chance of making Tom play nice than you will changing her mind."

Harry sighed. "I don't have time for this," he complained. He looked at Miranda, thinking about it. "Fine. You can guard her for a year, but since you have exceeded what I meant, I will do the same. Every day that Hermione remains uninjured you will receive a bonus of five Galleons." He saw Miranda about to say something as a stubborn look appeared in her eyes and Harry spoke before she could. "If you refuse that money, I will give it to the fund to re-elect Fudge."

The girls stared at him and Ron snorted, having finally gotten enough food in his system that he was willing to do something besides shovel breakfast in his face. "Is there such a thing?"

Harry shrugged. "If there isn't, I'll create it."

Miranda frowned at him. "You play dirty, Mr. Potter. I'll take it."

Harry looked at Miranda, remembering the man she'd been with and what she'd said about him. "Is your friend any good at wards and protecting places, by any chance?"

Miranda shrugged. "Fair, unless you want wards that kill. Then he's quite good, as the War Wizard's track at our school emphasises those types of things."

Harry nodded. "After I find out if I can hire Bill from Gringotts for the duration of the summer, one or both of them will do the wards around the houses where our people are. I'll tell them just what I want for protection, but I see no problem with wards that kill, as long as our people don't get caught in them."

_**OoOoOoO Interlude; Ginny's War, the Burrow. OoOoOoO**_

Molly Weasley called Ginny for breakfast and received no answer. She went to Ginny's room and opened the door. Ginny was just sending an owl off that Mrs. Weasley didn't recognize and after closing the window, she went past her mother without a word.

Molly heard Ginny's voice as she came back down the stairs. "Good morning dad," she said as Arthur and Ginny sat down to eat. Arthur looked up as Molly came into the kitchen.

Good morning, love," he said, smiling at her. "This looks lovely." He dished up some food and frowned, looking up towards the ceiling where Ron's room was. "Where's Ron? It's not like him to be late for breakfast."

"Ronald is staying with Harry for a while," Molly said, setting a plate down with a bit too much force.

Mr. Weasley frowned as he looked at Ginny and Molly. He'd been married too long and seen too many arguments not to recognize the signs now. He frowned as he tried to figure out just how he was going to find out what was going on, and how bad it was.

He saw Ginny taking some more food and frowned. "Have you forgotten your manners?" he asked gently, "your mother went to a lot of work for this."

Ginny sighed. She had not wanted to involve her father in this fight, as it was between her and her mother, but she was not going to cause another fight with her father. "I'm not speaking to mother right now. I do appreciate the meal, but Mum and I are fighting."

Arthur sighed. "Would this have anything to do with Ron being with Harry, by any chance?"

Ginny shrugged. "I think so, but I went to my room last night before he left, so I cannot really say. May I look for another summer job?"

Arthur frowned, looking at her. "Why do you need two?"

"I don't, but my first one was going to be working with Hermione, and that won't be possible now."

Arthur sighed. This fight was about Harry then. "I think a summer job would be good for you. Where are you going to look?"

Ginny frowned. "I think I'll try a Muggle job, something easy in Ottery St. Pole. Hermione and Harry both have strong Muggle ties, and I need to be comfortable in both worlds."

Before Arthur could say anything to that, not that he disagreed with the idea, an owl rapped on the window. Arthur watched as Ginny took the letter from the solid black owl and it flew away.

Ginny read the letter and looked up. "Ron wants to know if Neville and Luna can come and get the rest of his things, that would not fit in his trunk." She directed the question at Arthur, but it was Molly that flinched.

Arthur had had enough of this. "Molly," he said pleasantly, "may I see you in the living room, please?"

He got up and went into the other room, waiting for Molly to appear. She came in a minute later, and ten minutes later, Arthur knew what had happened last night. He thought about it for a few minutes. "Molly, usually, I let you deal with the children, and you are wonderful most of the time. This time, you are wrong. Ron is a grown man, and has faced Death Eaters more times than both of us combined. Ginny, while not as old, is the only person alive that has faced You-Know-Who and walked away other than Harry, even if it was with Harry's help. On top of that, even I am not blind enough to miss the ring on her finger. I remember that ring, and the last red head that wore it."

He sighed and and looked at Molly. "You are risking a lot with this, Molly love. Ginny is just stubborn enough to do what she said, and are you willing to see her walk out of your life in just over a year?"

Molly turned to him, tears standing in her eyes. "I am, if it keeps her safe for this year. Maybe by then, this will all be over, and she will be safe forever. I would rather know she was safe, but not be able to see her than allow her to get hurt."

Arthur sighed, understanding what she was saying, but not agreeing with her. "I will be owling Ron today, telling him he is welcome here any time. I suggest you do the same, unless you want him to be another Percy, estranged from us all."

He sighed, looking at the time. He'd have to get something at the office, since he didn't have time to finish his breakfast here. He stood in front of the fire and looked at Molly. "I suggest you listen to the house today, with everyone gone. If you persist in this course, love, it will be like that for the rest of our lives. Is that really what you want?" He concentrated and Apparated away.

Molly went into the kitchen, looking for Ginny, but she was gone, and Molly was alone, listening to a house that was silent as a grave.

**_OoOoOoO Harry's Room, just after breakfast. OoOoOoO_**

Harry looked at the gathering sitting around his table and ignored the butterflies in his stomach. "I have a chance to do things to Moldywart today," he said, deciding that he'd try to shock the people here, "and I need a bit of assistance. If you're not prepared to do things my way today, please leave now."

Mad-Eye Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Tonks, Remus Lupin, Dedalus Diggle, Ron Weasley, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, Daphne Greengrass, Miranda (No relation, I assure you,) Riddle, Pansy Parkinson, Blaise Zabini and Hermione Granger just watched him, and none of them moved an centimetre. Most of them looked very uncomfortable with his new name for Voldemort, but they didn't move.

Harry nodded. "I have a meeting with some people from Moldywart's group today and I am going to try and convince them that they should join me. They are going to have a few guards around the meeting point and that's where some of you come in. I want a few friends around me, in case this is a trap of some kind."

He looked at Kingsley. "That's where you come in, Sir. You'll be in charge outside the Inn, with everyone except Pansy, Hermione and Miranda. The four of us, and one other will be inside."

Harry grinned at Mad-Eye Moody, who was looking slightly dubious. "Mr. Moody, I have something else for you to do. We'll talk about it after the others are gone. You won't be at this meeting though."

Harry looked at everyone. "I have one rule that you will follow, or you can leave now. We care for our own first. Civilians, bystanders, everyone else is secondary to our people. If that means you have to reduce a Death Wanker to a fine red mist, or leave a bystander behind, I have a lot of money, and I'm almost certain I can get you out of trouble if needed."

Kingsley Shacklebolt frowned at Harry. "First, Harry, I think we can agree that first names are acceptable, since we're going to be fighting together, and second, please don't talk about bribing the Ministry in front of me. I have certain objections to that."

Harry smiled and put on an innocent look. "I simply meant that I have Mr. Nicholas Sharpstar as my Solicitor and enough money to make sure you get a fair trial before the Wizengamot. Since I hold a good number of votes in that body now, I think any trials will go our way."

Kingsley nodded. "I see. Might I ask just how many votes you have?"

Harry shrugged. "I control the Potter, Black and Montrose votes, by myself. Neville is going to side with me, unless we have a difference of opinion, and if this meeting today pans out, we'll have thirteen more votes."

Harry frowned at Pansy. "Pansy says that four of those votes are council votes, but I don't understand what difference that makes."

The Wizard born in the room stared at Harry. "You will control four council votes?" asked Moody. At Harry's nod, he began smiling and then laughing. "No wonder Scrimgeour is trying to get Harry to join him."

Harry sighed. "Would someone mind explaining to those of us that know nothing about Wizard politics just what that means?"

Hermione looked at him. "Harry, the Wizengamot is actually two bodies. The general assembly is every member that has a vote in the Wizengamot, and is one hundred and twenty three votes. The council is the smaller body, and consists of just twenty three votes. If you control four of them, that is a major block of votes, and could sway almost any vote they make the way you want it to go." She thought about it for a second. "If you were to use your fame with those votes, you could conceivably control the Wizengamot completely."

Harry thought about what he'd just learned for a minute, and then shook his head. "Wonderful. Something else to worry about. That's for another time though, as I am more worried about the meeting today. If it goes bad on us, the rest of it is not going to matter."

He looked at Kingsley. "Sir, you're in charge of the security outside the Inn, for our people. I know that the people on the other side of the meeting are Moldywart's," Harry paused as half the people in the room gaped at him. "Get used to it. I am going to be doing all sorts of things that annoy the hell out of Moldywart, and calling him names is the least of it."

Harry caught the fire flaring up and had his wand out, until he saw who stepped though. "Good morning, Ginny," he said warmly.

Ginny came over and looked at the outfit the other two girls had gotten out for Harry. The Basilisk boots and jacket were a given, and the girls had decided that a Gryffindor red turtle-neck sweater and black pants would give the right impression today.

Harry had wanted solid black, but Pansy and Hermione had convinced him that that could be intimidating, if the talk turned to certain subjects that Harry felt strongly about. The people that knew Harry, and knew just how good of a person he was, those people never really saw him as intimidating.

To people that didn't know him though, or only had the various conflicting reports from the papers and the rumours that flew every year, Harry was a legend, capable of things that no other Wizard could do, and when he glared at someone, with his eyes burning a cold green, he was intimidating as hell.

In the solid black he'd wanted to wear today, and with the Basilisk hide jacket, he could easily make people think he was trying to threaten them, especially people who thought in circles and looked for the meaning behind the meaning in everything someone said or did.

Since that was not the purpose of this meeting, the girls had insisted on the bright shirt. That it reminded people that Harry was a Gryffindor without saying anything was a bonus.

Hermione and Pansy hadn't mentioned to Harry that it also went well with his eyes and hair, or that Harry looked quite sexy in the form fitting clothing.

Ginny finished looking Harry over and smiled at him. "You look very nice today, Harry. Can I have you for breakfast?"

The rest of the people sitting around the table stared at Ginny and then Harry, not quite sure that they had heard the younger girl properly. Harry stared at her as his mind processed what she'd said, and then he started blushing, a deep crimson that put his sweater to shame.

Pansy and Hermione looked at each other. "Very good," said Pansy thoughtfully. "No warning, and oh so casual. I give it a seven."

Hermione frowned. "I have to say this was an eight, at least. You do have the added fun of witnesses."

Ginny smirked at both of them. "I get a bonus point for the first one of the day, don't I?"

Harry listened to the three girls argue about his blush with a sense of disbelief. "Pardon me," he said carefully, "but are the three of you having a contest to see who can make me blush the most, or the hardest?"

They looked at him and Hermione answered him. "Both, actually. We made up the rules yesterday."

Harry looked at the other people in the room, most of whom weren't even trying to hide their smiles. "I wonder if Moldywart ever has days like this," he said mournfully. Harry looked at Ginny, smiling smugly and smiled. He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her onto his lap. "Yes."

Ginny looked at him, puzzled. Harry grinned as he looked her in the eye. "You asked me a question a minute ago, and that's my answer."

Ginny stared at him, and buried her face in his chest as she matched his blush. It didn't do her any good to hide her face, as the back of her neck was just as red. Hermione and Pansy snickered.

"As entertaining as this is," said Kingsley with a smile, "Can we get back to the business of the day, so we can get in place?"

Harry cradled Ginny as he looked up. "Sorry," he said, although he didn't sound very sorry, "Ron, I want you to work with Kingsley, and put that strategist mind of yours to work. Listen to him, but don't be afraid to ask questions or make suggestions."

Ron nodded, and after a few more minutes, the guard group left to scout the inn and figure out where they would set up at.

Harry looked at Mad-Eye Moody. "I know that you were going to teach at Hogwarts, but are you any good, really? Considering some of the teachers we've had there, just getting a teaching job there is no indication of your skill."

Mad-Eye shrugged. "I'd probably scare the hell out of the younger kids, but after they finished pissing themselves, I can get my point across, just ask any of the Aurors I trained."

Harry nodded. "Good. I need you to find four more trainers that you trust, and who aren't afraid of creating a little pain. You're going to be training my front line fighters. No rules, no duelling, just get in, do it to them first and get out."

Mad-Eye smiled evilly. "You're learning, Harry."

Harry grimaced as he thought of the Ministry again. "Too slowly for Sirius, and too slow for a number of others. We need to go in, swamp the Death Wankers with numbers, three or four to one and put them down, so that they cannot get back up for that fight. We had that problem in the Ministry, and it cost us badly. From now on, I want to learn spells that will keep any Death Wankers out of the fighting for at least a week, if we don't catch them."

Mad-Eye looked at Harry. "Training people to fight that way is going to cause quite a lot of injuries, Harry," he warned him.

Harry shrugged. "If they spend a night or two in bed, hurting a little, or a lot, they'll be that much quicker when the real thing comes around." Harry looked at Mad-Eye calmly, but with a firm resolve in his eyes. "I would rather hurt them now, than let the Death Eaters kill them later."

Mad-Eye Moody nodded approvingly. "That's the way you should be looking at it, Harry. I've been trying to convince the Ministry for years that the criminal element doesn't deserve a fair break, but the purists in the Ministry have kept it from happening."

Harry shrugged. "I don't give a damn about what people think about it, I want my people coming home."

Moody nodded and went to the Floo. "I know just the people to help us, and they should be free to train your people by this time tomorrow." He threw a handful of powder in the fire and was gone.

Pansy looked at Ginny curiously. "How did you get here, anyway?"

Hermione was already in a book, but she answered. "She caught the Knight Bus to Diagon Alley and went to see Mr. Sharpstar."

Ginny nodded, grinning impishly at Harry. "He told me that Harry's magnificent mansion was on the Floo network now."

Harry sighed as he let Ginny go. "How much trouble are you going to be in, when you get back to the Burrow?"

Ginny shrugged. "That depends on if I find a job or not. I told my father that I was going out today to look for a job, so if I come back with one, I can say I looked."

Harry frowned at her. "You have been hanging around Fred and George too much."

Hermione choked, while Ginny just stared at Harry and Ron snickered. "I hate to say this, Harry, but you've been a worse influence on us than they have. At lest they only go sneaking around to play pranks. You've taught us to sneak around and do all sorts of other things."

Harry looked at his friends with a question in his eyes.

Hermione looked up from the new version of "Hogwarts; A History", and shrugged apologetically at Harry. "The twins never had us breaking into the Ministry, breaking the laws about Dragons, or fighting Voldemort."

Harry thought about that and grinned. "When you put it that way, it does sound bad, doesn't it?" He looked at Ginny and smiled. "You know, I might know someone that can solve your little problem."

Harry got up and crossed to the fire, throwing a pinch into it and making a fire call. He had his head in the fireplace for nearly three minutes and then came back.

Pansy looked at him and sighed. "What are you up to now, Harry? I know that look."

Ginny frowned at her. "How do you know how Harry looks when he's doing something sneaky? Has he been that busy in the last two days?"

Pansy shook her head. "I don't know how Harry looks, but please remember that I am in Slytherin. I've seen more sneaky faces than there are Gryffindors."

Ginny nodded, and looked at Harry. "Harry, what time do you need to see us for the meeting?"

Harry frowned. "Are you going to ask what I have my sneaky face on about?"

Ginny blushed. She'd been thinking about what Pansy and Hermione had told her yesterday, and she had almost forgotten that. "I'm sorry Harry, what sneakiness are you up to now?"

Harry grinned. "I have found you a job, that even Mrs. Weasley cannot complain about. I happen to know that Mr. Sharpstar has control of a company that needs a summer office girl. She'll have to take letters from owls, takes messages, and maybe clean the office once in a while, and she may have to run errands sometimes. They're paying thirty galleons a week."

Ginny blinked. "Thirty Galleons? I'll take it." She frowned suddenly. "Harry, mum's not going to find out that you own this company, is she?"

Harry gave them all his best innocent look. "I can quite honestly say I have never seen any paperwork or description of this company that states I own it." He looked at Ginny with a smile. "In fact, Mrs. Weasley is welcome to look at everything I inherited, and see if she can find the "Shades of Grey" company."

Pansy had years of experience in keeping a straight face, but the name of this company had her looking at Harry. She didn't give anything away, but she remembered using that phrase to Harry, and now there was a company that had that name, and Harry was much too certain that they would hire Ginny at an incredibly high salary for an under-age girl in her first job.

Hermione was watching Harry as well. She had noted the care with which Harry had spoken about the company. She thought about what he'd said and smiled. "Harry, this is a newer company, isn't it?"

Harry looked at her and smiled. "Yes, I believe it is newer, but they have some incredible people working for them, and great backing."

Hermione smiled, a smile Harry knew well. Hermione got that look every time she figured out what was going on without help. She nodded and went back to her book. Harry turned his attention to Ginny. "After the meeting, you can drop by Mr. Sharpstar's office, and he'll let you know where their offices are."

He stood up and looked at his watch. "We've got about four hours before we have to meet here to take the Portkey to the meeting, do any of you want to go into Diagon Alley with me? I need to see Fred and George, and I think I'll stop in Gringotts for a minute as well."

"Mr. Potter, Miss Black will not be taking an untested and unknown Portkey anywhere." Miranda was still at the table next to Hermione, but she was staring at Harry.

Harry frowned, thinking about it. Given some of the things that had happened to Harry during magical travelling, he could see her point. "Fine. Hermione, can you make a Portkey?"

Hermione nodded, smiling. "It is actually quite easy to do. The Portkey."

Harry smiled as he held up his hands. "I trust you, Hermione. Just make a Portkey for five people and be ready when I get back, please?"

Hermione nodded, finishing her breakfast and heading for her room. Harry looked at the other three girls. "Do any of you want to come with me?"

Ginny and Pansy looked at each other and Ginny spoke for them both. "I think we're going to stay here and get to know each other a little better."

Harry looked at them. "Please don't destroy the room while you do it."

Pansy just smirked at him and Ginny grinned. "Harry," she said, putting an innocent look on, "you don't think we'd do that do you?"

Harry smiled at Ginny as he hugged her, saying, "I know you, Miss Weasley, and your temper." He grinned as she swung at him and he ducked. "See what I mean?" Harry ducked into the Floo before Ginny could show her appreciation with a well thrown cushion.

Harry smiled as he managed to stay on his feet at the Leaky Cauldron and headed for the alley after greeting Tom. He wasn't thinking about anything except his meeting for the day, and he nearly bumped into the witch that stopped in front of him. "Pardon me," he said absently, as he stepped around her.

The witch, who was wearing a hooded cloak that concealed her face, reached out and put her hand on Harry's arm. "Mr. Potter," she said in a low voice, "I was going to leave this note with the Weasley twins, but since you are here, I will give it directly to you." She handed Harry a note and Apparated away as he reflexively looked at what she'd given him.

Harry frowned at the note in his hand, because there was nothing on the outside to indicate who it was from. Ornate writing spelled out Harry Potter, and that was the only thing written on it. He tucked it in his robes and continued to Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. He stopped outside the shop, staring at the window display. A fat man with a very vacant look on his face and a bright green bowler hat was sitting in the window wearing "Marvin the Muggle" pyjamas. The only other thing in the window was a large pile of the various things the store sold and every so often, the fat man, (Who just happened to bear a strong resemblance to the former Minister of Magic, a particularly vile piece of... Fudge in Harry's opinion.) would reach over and use one of the pranks on himself, demonstrating creative ways to get someone to fall for the prank. It took Harry a second to realize that there was not a man in the window, that it was in fact a giant and very detailed illusion.

He grinned and went up to the door, only to find it locked. He sighed, having hoped that the twins would be up, but no such luck today. Harry was about to knock loudly, when he caught the window display out of the corner of his eye again. Harry smiled, and turned away, nearly running as his smile became a grin.

Ten minutes later, the quiet peace of early morning in Diagon Alley was broken by a most bizarre and strange sight. A shorter heavyset woman with brown hair was coming down the street, fire flashing from her eyes and determination in every step.

"FRED AND GEORGE WEASLEY!!!" roared the woman, who appeared to be suffering from at least a dozen of the more popular wheezes for sale by the twins, "GET DOWN HERE AND EXPLAIN THIS NOW!!"

In the small flat above the store front, four still mildly intoxicated people were rather rudely jerked out of sleep by the sounds. One of the girls, being slightly faster to wake up, having not drank quite as much as the other three, looked out the window.

Her scream was enough to bring Fred and George upright, both searching for their wands. The girl turned from the window, having regained some control. "Fred," she said in a mild tone, that was clearly covering near hysteria, "Your mother is in the street, covered in your products. Get her out of here, without letting her come up here, or the two of us will never enter your flat again."

The twins frowned, until the meaning of her words hit them. Fred paled. "Mum? Here?"

George was more interested in the rest of the comment. "Covered in our products?" He peered out the window. When he turned around, he was very pale. "Fred, we're dead. Mum's been pranked with at least seven or eight of our newest things."

Fred was scrambling to get dressed. "George, I think this requires some serious strategy. What say we run away and hide in America?"

George nodded, looking for his clothes. "Katie, love, please take care of the sh."

His sentence was cut off as Katie grabbed him by the ear. "George, you will get rid of your mother. You insisted on wards preventing Apparation in your flat, and now the only way out is to go down there in front of your mother. I am not doing that, until she's a lot calmer than she is now."

Angelina was confronting Fred at the same time. "Go down there and get rid of her, in time for me to go to work, or you will never see what colour my bra is again."

The twins looked at each other. They sighed in tandem and walked slowly towards the stairs that led to the back of the shop, casting mournful glances at the girls. The two girls didn't budge though, and the twins went down the stairs.

Fred opened the door to the shop. "Mum," he said, in a falsely cheerful voice, trying not to wince as another boil erupted on her face. At least the prank finally worked.

He swallowed heavily as his mother just stared at him without saying a word. He'd never seen her this angry, and that she had stopped yelling was absolutely new to him.

"Fred," his mother said quietly, "where did I go wrong? How could you shame me like this?" She was beginning to break down, with tears appearing in her eyes. "Wasn't I a good mother? Did you hate me this much?"

George had come up behind Fred in time to hear this. "Mum, no, it's not like that," he said, blinking at the sight of his mother weeping. "You're the finest mum a boy could have."

Molly's tears dried up in an instant. "THEN WHY AM I LOOKING LIKE THIS, FROM YOUR GIFT?!?! SOME GIFT!! I HAVE A MIND TO WALLOP BOTH OF YOU INTO NEXT WEEK!!"

Fred and George looked at some of the other storekeepers and some early morning customers, drawn by the commotion, and tried to urge Molly inside the shop. "AS IF I WOULD ENTER THAT CHAMBER OF HORRORS YOU CALL A STORE!!"

Harry was enjoying the discomfort he was putting the twins through, but he figured that he'd better end this soon, before his glamour ended. "Fred, George," said 'Molly' in a calm tone, "I can't believe you would do this to me, so I am going to take you to your room," Harry blinked as the twins got even more pale than they already were.

"Mum," George said desperately, "There's no need for that, and we have to take you to the back room for some of the cures anyway."

Harry/Molly stared at George and suddenly had an idea, one he would have never thought of before Pansy had started walking around his room nearly nude. "George," Molly said, "How many girls will I find in your room right now?"

The absolute silence that followed that question was all the answer Harry needed. "Let's go count the scarlet women, shall we?" Harry stared at Fred until he moved out of the doorway.

Harry stepped inside the store and turned around, dropping his glamour at the same time. "Actually, there are enough women in my life right now, and I need to talk to you anyway."

Fred and George stared at Harry and then looked at each other. "George,"

"Fred,"

In unison, they turned to Harry, glaring at him. "We've been had."

Harry smirked at them. "Yes," he agreed thoughtfully, "I believe you have." Harry started laughing at them, while Fred closed the door of the shop and George stared at Harry.

"Harry, you do realize that we simply cannot allow you to get away with this?" asked Fred in a silky voice after he closed the door.

"And here you are in our shop, with all sorts of things readily to hand," added George.

Harry smirked at them. "Not now, we can save that for later. I have a custom project for you two, that I'm paying for. I know you two know better than to prank the paying customers."

George frowned at Harry. "What's the project?"

Fred leaned on a display carefully. "What does it pay?"

George looked at the ceiling. "And this is only delaying the revenge."

Harry nodded. "Later, we can indulge in a prank war. Right now, I need the truth from you. How good is your spell work, really?"

Fred and George looked at each other, hesitating. Harry glared at them. "I need to know if I can count on you. I need something to fight Voldemort with, and I think you two can do it, but I have to know."

The twins sobered quickly at Voldemort's name. "We might have thrown the OWLs a bit," Fred said.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Hermione knew that as soon as you got them, you prats. You could not make all this," he said, waving a hand at the shop, "without knowing far more than you showed on the OWLs. She told me that much, but we've never had a reason to ask about it before."

The twins sighed. "We need her," Fred said wistfully. "She would add entirely new dimensions to our pranks with that mind."

Harry waved that away. "Worry about that later," he said, "right now now I need to know if you can make something for me."

Harry laid out what he wanted, inwardly amused as the twins turned serious. He'd never seen them serious before. He finished laying out what he wanted and looked at them. "Can you do it, and soon?"

The twins looked at each other, using that special bond that allowed them to finish each other's sentences. "We can, but will we is a better question. You Know Who will not be happy about this."

Harry grinned and pulled two of the t-shirts he'd had made up from under his robes. "Welcome to my supreme indifference to Moldywarts' mood swings."

They examined the shirts in silence and finally sighed. "Harry, how do you fit them in your pants?"

Harry blinked and frowned at George, who had spoken. "Fit what?"

"Your balls, Harry," Fred explained, "because they must be made of steel and bigger than the Burrow."

Harry shrugged. "You think so? Good. I want people to think I know exactly what I'm doing against Moldywart, and this will help. Now, answer the question, I'm on a time limit here."

The twins looked at each other. "Give us a week. We've never tried anything like this, and we'll know if it can be done in a week."

Harry frowned, and Fred shook a finger at him. "Harry, we don't know the spell they use, or how to modify it, and that is going to take research. We'll make it a priority, but it is still going to take some time."

Harry grinned at the twins. "I bet it's done in three days, if I send Hermione over to schedule your time."

The twins shook their heads at the same time. "No thank you, Harry. We saw what she did to you and Ron during the OWLs, and we'd have to hex her."

Harry blinked. "That would be funny to see. Hermione figured out how to get the three of us into the Slytherin common room in second year, and you want to get her started on you? Be my guest."

Harry looked at his watch. "I don't have time today to worry about it, so I'll let you two get back to the Chasers." Harry smiled at the twins. "Or are you two the ones chasing them?"

"If we were to admit that we had a girl or two in the flat last night," George said loftily.

"we would never tell you who they were," concluded Fred.

"Then, the next time they come over, and you want to keep them hidden," Harry said with a smirk, "You might want to keep their Brooms out of sight of people that played Quidditch with them for years." Harry pointed at the four Brooms leaning against the wall by the counter.

Harry went out the door while the twins were still looking at the brooms.

_**OoOoOoO Harry's Room, Plots, Plans and Discussions. OoOoOoO**_

Pansy and Ginny looked at each other. Pansy kept her face blank, but Ginny was examining Pansy openly. Pansy saw doubt, interest and a trace of jealous spite there, and reminded herself again not to underestimate this girl.

Ginny was a bit more open-minded than Ron, but this was still Pansy Parkinson, four year reigning bitch-queen of Slytherin house, and the girl voted most likely to accept the Dark Mark by the Gryffindors. Ginny was far more worried about Harry than she let on, and watching Pansy was part of that.

Harry thought there was something good about her, and Harry was a pretty good judge of character, so Ginny wouldn't just hex her on sight. She would keep her wand loose though, and her hexes primed.

"You two gave me quite a start yesterday," Ginny said, crossing to the table to sit next to Hermione. "Startled me considerably."

Hermione blushed. "I tried to love Ron, but he has certain ideas I just couldn't live with." Hermione paused, thinking about the relationship she'd had with Ron. "Plus, he was very uncomfortable with some things I like."

Ginny arched an eyebrow. "Like wanting to make love in the library at Hogwarts?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and then rubbed her temples. "I swear, everybody believes that's my favourite fantasy. Doesn't anyone realize that good sex is messy, and would leave fluids on the books?"

Ginny blushed. "Having never done anything like that, I wouldn't know."

Pansy grinned. "Oh yes," she said with a smile, as she remembered something in her past, "Properly done, good sex leaves all sorts of fluids behind."

Hermione was lost in some thought or another as well. "Not to mention the costumes and accessories would be hard to hide in the library."

Ginny and Pansy exchanged a look. "Costumes?" inquired Ginny delicately.

"What sort of accessories?" Pansy asked.

Hermione shook her head and regarded the two girls. "Never you mind," she said, ignoring the flush climbing clear past her eyes.

Pansy looked at Ginny. "This must be a good story, I've never seen anyone's forehead blush before."

Hermione avoided their questions though, and finally Ginny gave up for now. "Hermione, when did you decide you liked Harry?" Ginny was still a bit surprised about some of the things she'd learned yesterday, and while she was interested in some of it, she wanted to know how she'd missed Hermione being in love with Harry.

Hermione smiled softly. "On the train first year. He was calm and polite, even though I was nervous and might have been a bit bossy."

Ginny gasped in assumed shock. "You? Being bossy? I don't believe it." Ginny grinned at Hermione's expression. "OK, even I can tell when you've pushed Ron a little too far. You like being in charge, and Ron hates being ordered around."

Hermione sighed. "Yes, I know. That was a large part of our breaking up after all."

Hermione thought back. "He was friendly and open, and he saw everyone he met as a new friend. That's why Malfoy annoyed him so much, implying that some of these people weren't worth knowing."

Pansy sighed. "I swear, Draco has managed to annoy the entire world. Our house was fed up with his bragging and childish plots, the rest of the school you know about, and even the Death Wankers are disgusted that he didn't kill Professor Dumbledore."

Hermione frowned. "He always was weak, down inside, where it counts. Not like Harry at all."

Ginny smirked slightly. "I find that I can live with the thought of Malfoy being in Professor Snape's company all the time quite well. I think before too long, Malfoy will be a special additive to a new potion experiment." She sighed wistfully. "I wonder if there's any way to give the idea to Professor Snape?"

_**OoOoOoO Gringotts, Diagon Alley OoOoOoO**_

Harry finished his business in Gringotts quickly, taking some money out to help get things for the people that had run to him from Moldywart. Most of them had only the clothes on their backs right now, and Harry was not going to let that be true for long. He used the line in the lobby to go to his vault, only going to the door marked with the single Galleon when he was done. The Goblin behind the door looked up as he stepped in.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter. How can Gringotts assist you today?"

"I need to know if I can hire the use of a specific curse breaker, and any people he may need, for however long it takes to do some things for me."

The Goblin nodded, and motioned down a hallway that Harry had not been down before. "You'll need to speak to Holdthumb, the Goblin in charge of curse breakers."

The Goblin led Harry down a hallway and to another office, where he said something to the Goblin behind the desk there and left.

"Mr. Potter, I am Holdthumb and since you need one of the people I am responsible for, we will be working together. May I ask first, which curse breaker you want in particular?"

"William Weasley. I believe he's in Egypt currently. Would it be possible to get him here for some time?"

Holdthumb frowned and scribbled a note on a sheet, placing it in the box Harry had noticed before. A few seconds later the box flashed and Holdthumb removed a thin stack of papers. "Mr. Weasley is indeed in Egypt, but can be available in three days, after he finishes the current curse he's working on. It would mean that we have to send somebody else there, and transfer him here. Might I inquire as to why you need this particular person?"

Harry nodded. "I am sorry about the inconvenience, but I have some people I need protected, as well as some places that will need to be checked on and possibly protected after I am of age. Since Bill is the only curse breaker I know, and I trust his family, I want him. If it is a question of money, I would be willing to pay for the trouble it causes you."

Holdthumb nodded slowly, examining Harry carefully as he thought about it. "Mr. Weasley will be here in four days, and I will find another curse breaker to take his place. Mr. Weasley will be needing certain supplies for his work. May I ask about the wards you will be needing?"

Harry frowned and flushed slightly. "I don't know. I know what I want them to do, but I was counting on Bill to know how to make them do what I want."

The Goblin nodded. "Tell me what you want the wards to do, and I can have some basic supplies on hand while he decides what he's going to do."

Harry shrugged. "I don't know the terminology, but I want the outer wards to stop everything not specifically authorized, without hurting anyone. If someone breaks through that layer, I want the second layer to hurt them, badly." Harry looked at the Goblin. "If they make it through that layer, and they're still trying to break the wards, I want the third layer to kill."

The Goblin nodded slightly. He'd seen that coming and he was impressed at Mr. Potter's straight forward approach to the problem. "This is likely to be expensive, Mr. Potter. It will not break you, not with your vaults, but it will be a large outlay. Are you prepared to deal with that?"

Harry shrugged. "Tell William that two of the places he is protecting is the Burrow, and where ever he and Fleur will living, and tell him that the other people he is guarding are my family."

The goblin glanced at the papers he was holding. "The Burrow is the Weasley family residence, is it not?" Harry nodded and Holdthumb stared into the distance for a second. "Mr. Weasley is not a specialist in personal protections, would you prefer we sent someone with him that is?"

Harry grinned. "No, I have something different in mind for that. This is a secret, Holdthumb, even in here. I simply want him to use the _Fidelius _on the people, using my Secret-Keeper, whom I trust."

The Goblin nodded. "A wise choice, if you trust your secret keeper."

Harry laughed. "I do. In fact, I trust him more than anyone, in this matter." Harry grinned as he thought about the friend he'd chosen for this. He was perfect for this, in more ways than one.

The Goblin made a few notes on the sheet in front of him and looked up. "Mr. Weasley will be here, and his supplies will be ready as soon as you two meet and he gives us the list. I will be charging your vault this amount for the transfer of personnel. Is this acceptable?"

Harry glanced at the number the Goblin had written down and shrugged. "A small price to pay for the safety of family." He grinned wryly. "Especially since I barely know their names yet, and I want to get to know them."

Harry stood up and put out his hand. "I must go, I have business elsewhere, and I am sure you are busy. Thank you for your assistance."

Holdthumb shook Harry's hand and watched him leave. He put a slip of parchment in the box after scribbling a note on it. A few minutes later, Grabhand came in and sat down. "You were right. Mr. Potter is a very different sort of wizard," said Holdthumb.

Grabhand nodded. "He is that. What brought him to you?"

Holdthumb explained why Harry had come in this morning and looked at Grabhand. "I tripled the normal charge for transferring personnel from branches, and he paid it without a qualm. He is also not worried about the cost of protecting people he calls family."

Grabhand bared his teeth in a Goblin smile that many wizards found disturbing. "Mr. Potter caught my interest the other day, and I had some inquiries made. He is friends with Rubeus Hagrid and a liberated House Elf named Dobby, who works for him. Besides those two facts, Mr. Potter has come to the attention of the Centaurs living in Scotland, and one of them even left his herd over Mr. Potter."

Holdthumb frowned. "Mr. Potter may the person we have been looking for. He has power in the Wizard world, and he is remarkably free of their feelings toward non human races."

Grabhand nodded. "I agree. He is most intriguing. We should watch him closely, and assist him, as long as nothing we do can be traced back to us."

Holdthumb nodded in turn. "I agree. It would be premature to reveal our involvement at this time. That enemy of his may put an end to Mr. Potter before anything he can do would help, and the Oath must be upheld."

_**OoOoOoO Harry's Room, just before noon. OoOoOoO**_

Harry looked at the people he was going to the meeting with again. Hermione was in her best Muggle clothing, having talked with Pansy and Ginny about their strategy today. They were going to emphasize Harry's connections across the Wizard and Muggle worlds.

Pansy was in her best dress robes, with the family crest displayed prominently, and Ginny was dressed simply, in Wizard robes over Muggle clothes. The girls had decided that she didn't need a family crest on her robes, as her hair marked her as a Weasley without any crest at all.

Between the three of them, they were a good cross section of the various people that could be found in the Wizard world, and the only person out of place was Miranda, following Hermione like a shadow.

Harry had already been told not to say anything about Miranda, unless the other side brought her up first. He didn't understand why a bodyguard would be unmentionable, but it had some thing to do with being a Defender, and they had promised him a full explanation later.

They had about thirty minutes before they had to leave, and Harry was beginning to get very nervous. Pansy and Ginny shared a look as he paced. Ginny jerked her head at Hermione and Pansy bit her lip. Hermione blinked at them, and buried her head in the new 'Hogwarts, A History'.

Pansy sighed and grabbed Harry as he walked by her. "Harry, we have something to discuss with you, so sit down and listen."

Harry sat down and Ginny and Pansy sat on each side of him. "We have decided that you need a Mrs. Montrose, and after some discussion, we even have the best choice for you."

Harry blinked, staring at Pansy, who had spoken. "Why do I need a Mrs. Montrose?" He looked at Ginny. "More to the point, why are you two willing to have another woman in this relationship?"

Ginny grinned at Harry and kissed him. "To answer your second question, you already have several women in your life, and sooner or later, lots of people are going to be trying to marry somebody off to the Montrose head, simply because it is a head of family, with a Wizengamot seat and that is too much power to let fall silent again, just because you're married to us."

Pansy nodded. "There are only one hundred and twenty three Wizengamot seats, Harry, and with you controlling three of them personally, everyone is going to be looking to have a handle on you. Since we don't think you'd like that much, and you've already proven that you can think outside the box on this matter, we thought about it, and decided what sort of woman you need."

Ginny snuggled a little closer and continued as Harry thought about what they'd said so far. "Mrs. Montrose has to be intelligent, so that you have someone at your level to talk to."

Harry started to say something, but Ginny interrupted him. "Harry, you have all this Moldywart stuff going on every year, that takes a great deal of your time, you hate studying, you're on the Quidditch team and yet, you still pulled in decent OWL scores. I love you, Harry, but if somebody wasn't trying to kill you every year, your scores would be somewhere up there with Hermione's" Ginny thought about that, "well, maybe not that high, but you'd be well up in the scores."

Pansy laid her hand on his leg and took up where Ginny left off. "Plus, at least one of your wives must be able to help you run the entire conglomeration of families and things you're going to have when you turn of age. Neither of us can do that, yet, but you're going to need help right away."

The two girls had snuggled close into Harry on each side of him,and Harry was distracted for a second from what they were saying as Pansy slid her hand into Ginny's and began slowly stroking her palm with one finger. Ginny had flinched slightly at first, but then relaxed as Pansy continued to slowly stroke her palm.

"Finally, your other wife has to be something neither of us is, and that is comfortable with the Muggle world," Pansy concluded, and Harry blinked.

"Say that again?" he said, not sure how that had worked into the conversation.

"Harry, you were Muggle raised, and even as poorly as they did it, you still have strong Muggle ties and we can't ignore that. You will want to go into the Muggle world and do things sometimes and one of us has to be able to go with you, and even suggest things to do."

"Last," Ginny said, burrowing an arm under Harry and holding him, "the other Mrs. has to be someone that you like, that likes you and that the two of us like as well. I doubt you'd want someone that the Malfoys would try to push on you, for example, and not all of the Dark Wizards are as easy to spot."

Harry closed his eyes and forced himself to ignore the feel of the two Witches curled up on each side of him. He thought about what they'd said, considering it logically. "I see your points," he said quietly, and craned his head to look at Hermione. "Since you haven't turned a page since this conversation started, and they couldn't have been more obvious about their choice without shouting your name, why don't you come around here and join us?"

Hermione took a deep breath and laid her book down, before picking it up again and holding it against her chest like a shield, wrapping her arms around it. "I have liked you for a very long time Harry, and I would never have said anything, because you were comfortable with me as your friend, but Pansy convinced me that you should know that I have liked you since the train first year."

Harry stared at Hermione, his mouth open. Ginny giggled quietly, and helped him close his mouth. Harry shook his head, trying to dislodge the pictures he had of Hermione and Ron. "But what about Ron?"

"Harry," Hermione said quietly, "do you remember what my response to Ron's introduction was, that first year?"

Harry grinned. "'Charmed, I'm sure' or something like that." He looked at the other two girls. "Ron was eating some Trolley cart bits when they were introduced, and you know Ron, he didn't bother to swallow before saying something."

Hermione nodded. "And it never got much better after that. The incident before the troll, and dozens of others over the years." Hermione was getting emotional now, and she glared at a memory. "I wouldn't even go into fourth year, when he doubted you, and thought you would have tried to enter the Tri-Wizards tournament without him. Then he couldn't figure out I was a girl until after he thought about a Slytherin."

Hermione sat down in front of Harry and looked at him. "By then, I was just your friend, and you never doubted me, not even after Ron said those things about who I might be going to the ball with. You never thought about me as a girl, and I could deal with that, because at least it didn't break up our trio."

Harry winced. "You were Hermione, always one step ahead, and so much more mature than Ron and I. The thought of you acting like Lavender or the Patils just never entered my head."

Hermione shuddered. "Thank you for that, at least."

Harry nodded, barely noticing when Pansy and Ginny put one of his arms around each of them. "So, why did you go with Ron?"

Hermione shrugged. "Two reasons. First, they'd locked Ron and I in Grimmauld Place, and we were just together, all the time. It started with that, but I agreed to be with him because you simply didn't see me the way I wanted you too."

Hermione looked at Ginny. "I knew you had liked him, and I knew in fifth year that Harry was finally beginning to open up and see you. I stayed back, so that Harry could do what he wanted. Everyone else that year had an agenda for Harry. You wanted to be his girlfriend, Professor Dumbledore wanted him to train twenty-four/seven, and I just wanted him to be happy."

Harry was looking at Hermione. "You liked me on the train, you say. When did you decide it was more than friends?"

Hermione blushed. "After your date with Cho. You were willing to leave her to talk to me, and she was not the girl for you. I heard Ron say something about your kiss with her, and I wanted to show you how to kiss properly. That was the thought that made me realize my feelings for you and Ron had changed from friendly to very friendly."

Harry nodded, rubbing his eyes. "You three are going to turn my life upside down," he said. He looked at Ginny and Pansy, realizing where they were for the first time. "Comfortable?" he asked them.

Pansy snuggled closer into his side and Ginny just smiled. Harry looked at Hermione seriously. "I hope you'll understand if I have to think about this. I've had six years of thinking about you as my friend, almost my sister, and that is not going to just change over night."

Hermione nodded. "I know. All I am asking right now, is that you remember that I am not your sister, and that I have always been there for you."

Harry nodded, and was about to say something else when Miranda coughed. "The meeting is in ten minutes."

"Thank you, Miranda," said Harry and Hermione simultaneously, and Ginny sniggered.

She looked at Pansy. "Listen to them. They sound like the twins already, and Harry wonders why we chose her."

"Actually," Pansy said with a falsely innocent smile, "I just thought she had great tits."

Harry and Hermione both stared at her as they turned bright red. Ginny giggled at them. "Oh, very good, Pansy," she said through her laughter, "both of them at once, and a wonderful shading as well. I have to say this is a seven."

Harry sighed as he got up, unwrapping himself from the two girls. "I wonder if it's too late to become a monk."

Pansy snorted. "Harry, do you really think the thought of a cold lonely bed is more interesting than the three of us covering every inch of you with bare skin?"

That mental image stopped Harry where he stood, thinking about it. His teenage mind went into overdrive, as vague pictures of him and three girls in his bed filled his mind's eye. Hermione frowned at Pansy. "Don't go breaking him now, we have a meeting to go to, and we really need him in possession of his faculties for it."

Harry shook his head as Hermione brought out the piece of string she had enchanted to be the Portkey. Pansy shrugged. "Harry's smart, he'll wait until after the meeting to think about that picture much." She smiled at Harry again. "I, on the other hand, have nothing to do except be there, so I can think about it all I want."

Hermione pulled her wand and tapped the Portkey. The last thing the room heard as the five of them disappeared was Ginny's comment. "So can I."

_**OoOoOoO The Hogsmeade Inn, 1225 pm. OoOoOoO**_

Ron and Kingsley Shacklebolt were walking around the people they had put in discreet places around the Inn. Each of Harry's people had another person with them, from the families that would be in the meeting as well.

The two groups had both shown up early for this meeting and they had soon realized that there simply were not that many covered positions for people to watch the Inn, and they had decided to share the places. That doing so made it that much easier to keep an eye on the other team was an unspoken message as well.

Ron and Kingsley were waiting with the leader of that team, a gentleman by the name of Monroe Parkinson. Monroe was the older brother of Pansy's father and should have been the head of the family, but he'd told them to find someone else, since he was far more interested in creating and researching new spells to worry about politics as the families played them.

Monroe was a tall thin man, with a rolling gait that made him look as if he'd just stepped off a ship. The three of them were waiting near where the Portkey they'd given Harry was supposed to appear when they heard the rushing sound of a Portkey behind them.

They turned around in time to see Harry land in a heap with three girls on top of him, while Miranda rolled to her feet and stood there looking around. The others untangled themselves and stood up. Hermione pulled her wand and began cleaning the dirt off the group. Harry sighed. "Taxis are a wonderful invention."

Ron grinned. Harry had never been very comfortable with Wizard forms of travel, except for the Broomstick, and it didn't look as if that was going to change any time soon. "I can't believe we were that far off with the Portkey," said Monroe, frowning at the place where the five young people had landed.

Hermione finished cleaning Ginny and turned to him. "That wasn't your Portkey," she said calmly. "It was suggested that we make our own."

Monroe's eyes cut to Miranda, who was still looking around and his eyes narrowed as he saw the leather armour she was wearing. "Is she working?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes. She is guarding another."

Monroe chewed his lip for a second. "Pardon me, while I let them know that inside. Protocols change with a Defender present." He walked quickly toward the Inn while Harry's party followed him a bit slower.

Harry looked at Miranda. "Tonight, I want to know about the Defenders. You seem to be an important thing in the Wizard World."

Shacklebolt snorted. "Harry, Minister Fudge tried to get a Defender for four years, and couldn't. To be a Defender, you have to be the best in each year of your schooling, and for the last two years, after the OWLs, you take a very specialised set of courses. I think there are nineteen active Defenders alive today." He indicated Miranda. "That's including her."

"There are only eighteen now. Wickers failed to maintain the standard, and didn't pass his re-certification. He may be back, if he keeps his legs." Miranda was walking next to Hermione, and her voice was toneless, as if she was discussing the weather.

Ron blinked. "If he keeps his legs?" he questioned.

Miranda gave a slight lift of a shoulder, that might have been a shrug. "The re-certification process is somewhat difficult, and slightly hazardous." She smiled slightly. "Not surprising, since it was created by the same group that put together the Tri-Wizard's Torment."

"Tournament, I think you meant," said Hermione.

"Have you seen the tournament? I said exactly what I meant." Miranda stepped in front of the group as they reached the doors and opened one, looking inside. She opened the door all the way after she was done and ushered Hermione inside. The rest were left to follow.

Inside, two men waited for them. Monroe stood next to a man that was every bit as tall, but wider, with a powerful look, one that came from self assurance and mental strength rather than anything physical. That man stepped forward, looking at Harry. "Mr. Potter, our room is this way, and there are a few people waiting. Shall we save the introductions for the room?"

Harry nodded, and gestured for the man, who he assumed was Pansy's father, to lead the way. He took a deep breath as they walked, reminding himself that they were coming to him for help. Never mind that they were adults, or that they had decades of practice in getting what they wanted, they needed him more than he needed them. At least they thought so, and Harry was going to try and keep the knowledge that he needed them just as badly to himself.

The man, whom Harry had seen picking Pansy up once or twice, and who he assumed was her father, stopped in front of a door and and opened it.

Miranda was there, and she stepped into the room. Harry blinked, and looked back at Hermione, who was at the end of the group. Miranda had been following Hermione a minute ago. How had she gotten past Ginny, Pansy and him without him seeing her? He shook that thought off and waited while she examined the room and finally decided it would be safe enough for Hermione to enter.

She nodded at Hermione and stepped into the room. Monroe said something in a low tone to his brother and started back outside.

Harry steeled himself and stepped into the room, the girls on his heels. The room was a long rectangle, with a single long table centred in the room. The far end of the table was occupied by the people that had come to see Harry and Harry moved to the chair at this end of the table, and then stopped. He helped Ginny and Pansy into their seats and moved to help Hermione, but Miranda had already seated her.

Harry sat down and finally examined the group at the end of the table. Their guide had sat at the end of the table, and Harry looked at the others at the other end of the table first. Sitting at Mr. Parkinson's right side was a dark woman that reminded Harry of somebody until he realized that she must be related to Violet, the little girl that had kissed his scar; as they had the same eyes.

Sitting next to her was a man who was so average that Harry looked at him twice, simply to make sure that he had seen somebody. Brown hair, brown eyes, nothing about the man stood out in any way. Harry was certain that if he had not been sitting in a room bare of anything except a table and chairs, Harry would have missed him entirely.

Sitting to the left of Mr. Parkinson was another man, one that raised the hackles at the back of Harry's neck. He had a narrow face and dark eyes that examined everybody at Harry's end of the table as intently as Mad-eye could have done. His face was cold and hard, reminding Harry of the faces of the Death Eaters he'd seen.

Sitting next to him was an elderly Witch, who examined Harry thoughtfully. When he looked at her, she smiled faintly and nodded to him.

The last member of the group was another Wizard, and Harry privately thought that he'd never seen anybody that old in his life. The man's eyes were nearly hidden behind the mass of wrinkles that made up his face and age spots covered his hands. The small fringe of hair that was all he had left was pure white and thinning, as if it would be gone any day now.

Mr. Parkinson stood up and looked at everyone. "Mr. Potter is a familiar face to all of us, so I will introduce the people with me first."

He indicated the woman with Violet's eyes. "Miss Montague will represent the interests of the Montague, Greengrass, Williamson and Bulstrode families."

The woman nodded to Harry. "I have a request from Millicent to know how Violet is," she said.

Harry smiled. "She was just fine the last time I saw her, and the entire group is hidden away."

The woman nodded again and Mr. Parkinson indicated the man next to her. "Mr. Rimaldi has the families of Rimaldi, Grimaldi and Smith in his hands."

The bland faced man smiled slightly. "Not that anyone can tell them apart without a magnifying glass," he said quietly, looking at Harry calmly.

Mr. Parkinson turned to his left side. "This gentleman is Mr. Greyfair and despite his looks, he's an honourable man."

The dark man frowned at Mr. Parkinson. "Don't be telling them that," he said calmly, and turned back to Harry. "Ignore Michael. He thinks that it is funny to say things like that occasionally."

Harry blinked, focusing on Mr. Greyfair with the other sight. He was a normal shade of grey, with a large white spot centred in his chest and only a small blacker area. "I don't mind him saying it, as long as it's true." Harry was about to say something else when he happened to look at Mr. Rimaldi.

The head of House Rimaldi had a Dark Mark. Harry frowned and checked the others. No one else had a Dark Mark and he relaxed some. He'd been afraid for a second that this was an elaborate trap, but there was only one Death Eater on the other side.

The elderly Witch, who didn't look quite so old sitting next to the ancient Wizard next to her, was Mrs. Warrington, representing the families of Warrington, Houseman, Kitchener and Salamander. "I'm pleased to meet you, Mr. Potter. We have some family ties on your father's side. I would enjoy a chance to speak to you about them, after the meeting is over," she said after the introduction had been made.

Harry nodded slowly. "Assuming we come to a favourable conclusion here, I am at your disposal, Mrs. Warrington."

Mr. Parkinson indicated the last man, and his voice changed, becoming warmer and affectionate. "And this old reprobate is Mr. Blount, who doesn't represent any families, but rather a few odd groups, that are not large enough to be Houses yet."

Mr. Blount was looking at Harry. "Young one, aren't you?" he said bluntly, watching Harry closely. "Why should we be coming to you, boy?"

Harry stared at the old man, aware of everyone watching the two of them. Harry sighed and looked at Mr. Parkinson. "Before we get into a discussion, one of you has a Dark Mark. Given the example set by the last person I knew with the Mark, I would prefer that that family send another person in their place."

All of the eyes at the far end of the table went to Mr. Rimaldi. He frowned at Harry, but stood up. "If you will give me a few minutes, my sister will be along." He looked at Harry. "I understand your position, Mr. Potter, and we decided to go along with it if you asked, but I hope you understand that I have the Mark because it kept my family safe for another few years."

Harry sighed. "You may be a good enough person,but I know a little too much about the ways people wearing that Mark can be controlled or influenced by Moldywart."

Harry paused as everyone on the other side of the table gaped at him in horror, with most of them looking around, as if Voldemort would Apparate in on the spot and start killing people. Harry rubbed his temples. He hadn't meant to say that, but it had become a habit in the last couple of days, and it had slipped out.

"Right. Before we do anything else, let's listen to a bit of history. Voldemort was born to the last daughter of Salazar Slytherin and a Muggle named Tom Riddle after she used a love potion on him." Harry went on to tell the stunned group everything he'd learned about Riddle until he entered Hogwarts. Harry stopped there. "Some of the things he did and learned in Hogwarts will remain secret until we have come to an agreement here, but the point is, he's just a man. A powerful Wizard, yes, but still just a man. Avoiding his name, calling him 'You Know Who' and all these things people do simply increase his power by increasing the fear surrounding him, and I will not feed that fear."

Harry arced an eyebrow at the group. "He's tried to kill me several times, and he's failed every time. He is not invincible."

Mr. Rimaldi had listened to the lecture with the rest of them and frowned at Harry. "None of us can shrug off a Killing Curse, Mr. Potter," he said with a pointed glance at Harry's forehead.

Harry disagreed. "Yes, you could, if you had a mother, or anyone who was the best Witch of her time at charms, and who was willing to die to seal a powerful charm over you." He smiled wryly. "Since I don't have another mother like that, I rather think the next Killing Curse that connects with me will make me the Boy Who Died. I would prefer to avoid that, so I plan on doing something about him very soon."

The people in the group stared at Harry. "You know what you need to do? You know how to kill him?" Various versions of those two comments came from everyone at the other end of the table and Harry waited until the babble ended.

"Yes, I do, but with the passing of Professor Dumbledore, I have lost a great many resources that were very helpful." Harry looked at them. "While none of you command the respect and power that Professor Dumbledore did, I don't need that sort of thing right now, and if I do, I will use what I have. What I need is to take Voldemort's support base, and set some of your people to work on research."

Harry sighed and bit his lip. This was the main area that could stop these negotiations. "I also need a few people that can fight, will fight, and are willing to be trained to fight in ways that Wizards don't normally fight."

The people at the other end of the table stared at him. "You never answered my question, boy. Why should we come to you?" asked Mr. Blount testily.

Harry bit his lip again. "How many of you have fought Death Eaters and won, or at least walked away?" He waited, but the silence at the other end of the table was all the answer he got. "I have, and so have half a dozen or more of the people with me. No one else in the country can say as much. I may not be the perfect choice, but I am the best choice you have right now." Harry thought about telling them about the prophecy, but decided it was too early, and Mr. Rimaldi hadn't left yet.

Harry looked at Mr. Rimaldi again. His aura was not as grey as Pansy's, or Harry's, and his white spot covered nearly half of his chest. Harry sighed, and slipped back into normal sight while he stared at Mr. Rimaldi.

Harry frowned, and the two groups waited while he thought. Pansy started to say something, but Ginny stopped her with a look. "It's Harry's responsibility, and his decision."

Snape had betrayed Professor Dumbledore, but Snape had also been a Death Eater to be a Death Eater. If Mr. Rimaldi was telling the truth, he'd only taken the Mark to protect his family. That might make the difference. On the other hand, Harry knew far too well that Voldemort had ways to do things to people that had the Dark Mark, and that could do immense harm to Harry's people.

Harry felt the sides warring inside his mind, to trust Mr. Rimaldi or not. Fear, suspicion and distrust fighting with more hopeful thoughts, and suddenly, he knew why Professor Dumbledore gave everyone a chance, or many chances to prove themselves.

You had to believe that people were basically good, that given the chance, they would do the right thing, or you would be controlled by fear and suspicion. That led to people like Mad-Eye Moody, lonely and bitter, assuming everyone was out to get them. Harry had no desire to be the next Mad-Eye, and he made his decision. "Mr. Rimaldi," he said quietly, "I have changed my mind. You may stay, and I hope I am not wrong about you."

Mr. Rimaldi nodded to Harry. "This is my family we're talking about, Mr. Potter. I will do anything to insure their safety."

Harry nodded. "I hope so." He looked at Hermione. "Hermione, would you make sure that no one outside of this room can hear inside? Don't forget the ears Fred and George made when you do."

Hermione nodded, and pulled her wand. She muttered something under her breath, and the room lit up with lights, thin lines like spider webs shrouding the room. They were in several different colours, and ranged from dim to brightly shining. Harry had no idea what they were, but apparently Hermione did. She studied them for a minute, and cast another spell, adding another layer of strands to the multi-coloured web. When she was done, she muttered a Finite Incanteum and ended her first spell. The lights disappeared and she looked at Harry. "We're private, Harry, from everything I know about, anyway."

Harry grinned at her. "If you don't know about it, it probably doesn't exist, or work if it does."

Mrs. Warrington was watching Hermione. "What was that spell? How did you do that?"

Hermione shrugged, blushing. "It was simply a minor spell, that causes wards and other pre-existing spells to glow. The colour of the glow tells me what type of spell it is and the strength of the glow tells me how strong the enchantment is."

The group at the end of the table was staring at Hermione, as were the rest of Harry's group. Harry looked at them all and then at Hermione and smiled slightly. "Have you done something you shouldn't be able to do again?"

Hermione shrugged again. "Not really," she said earnestly, looking at Harry. "I merely put together a couple of spells I found in a book and made them a bit stronger by combining them."

Mr. Blount snorted. "Merely?" he questioned. "That sounds like quite a lot to me." He looked around at his end of the table. "Interesting as this is, we have a meeting to run. Mr. Potter, we know Pansy, why don't you introduce the other two ladies so we can get on with it."

Harry was beginning to like the blunt old Wizard. "This is Hermione Granger-Black," he said, indicating Hermione, "and this is Ginny Weasley." Harry looked at Miranda, but remembered in time not to say anything about her and looked at the group.

"I have a large number of things to do today and all summer, so I'll be direct. I will accept anyone that is willing to utterly forsake Moldywart. I will provide places to stay, if needed, and support them while they are in hiding, provided they do a few things for me. Most of those things will be research related, and will not put them in danger." Harry thought about that for a minute. "At least, it will not put them in danger from Moldywart or the Death Eaters."

Something was bothering Harry, a thought at the edge of his mind, and he couldn't stop to think about it right now. He hoped that it would not come back to bite him before this was over.

Mr. Parkinson was looking at Harry. "What do you mean by utterly forsake him, Mr. Potter?"

"You will leave him, taking all your people and money away from him, and having no further contact with him. Any properties that you have that are known to the Death Eaters, will be Fidelius charmed, with the head of each family holding their family safe. I will then Fidelius the heads of the Families."

The group at the other end of the table was nodding, until they heard that last bit. Mr. Parkinson frowned. "Forgive us, Mr. Potter, but having you as the Secret Keeper is not a good idea. We all know about your connection to him."

Harry grinned at them all. "I will not be the Secret Keeper. I have chosen another person, one who has completely proven undying loyalty to me."

The group looked suspicious. "Who is this person?" asked Mr. Greyfair in his quiet voice.

Harry held up his hand. "I will not say anything about this person's identity. I will not even tell you their sex, but you could say that this person is as loyal as a House Elf."

Pansy choked and coughed. When she was done, she pulled Harry down by his sleeve. Looking into his face she stared at him. "You cannot be serious," she hissed, keeping her voice low, so that the people at the other end of the table couldn't hear her.

Harry just looked at her. "Is he loyal? If I asked him to keep this secret from everyone, unless I directly, face to face told him to tell somebody, would he do it?" Harry matched her tone, keeping his voice low.

Pansy thought about it for a second. "Yes," she admitted reluctantly. "But the Secret Keeper has to be human."

Harry shook his head. "Professor Dumbledore said that the Secret was 'concealed in a single living soul', and he is that." Harry frowned for a second. "Besides, the worst that could happen is that the spell doesn't work the first time, and we have to cast it again, in which case I'll use Ginny as the Secret Keeper."

Pansy sighed, looking at Harry. "You do know that the families are likely to go insane, when they find out that you have chosen Dobby as the Secret Keeper."

Harry shrugged. "The biased reactions of Wizards that should have come out of the Dark Ages a couple of centuries ago are of less than no concern to me. Dobby is perfect. He's loyal, strong enough to defend himself if the other side does find out who the Keeper is, and absolutely the last person Moldywart would think of anyway."

Pansy choked again. "He is that, at least." She considered that matter. Harry was right about one thing, Dobby was the last being any one on Voldemort's side would look at as a Secret Keeper. He also had the ability to get away or to fight if he needed to, to protect the Secret. She sighed as she realized she was actually considering the idea seriously. She sat back in her chair as she glanced at Harry. "In a hundred years, Harry, you're going to be a legend, or the most hated name ever."

"Is there a problem with Mr. Potter's choice, Pansy?"

Pansy frowned at her father. He was putting her on the spot here. Dobby would not be acceptable to her father, but he wasn't the problem, the bias of the Wizards was. She chose her words carefully. "The individual in question is not the problem. The way some people look at this person's bloodlines will be the problem."

Mr. Parkinson frowned. He knew Pansy was hiding something, but the meeting was more important than finding out what right now. "So you will not mind this person's being the Secret Keeper for your family?"

Pansy thought about that and shook her head slowly. "I would never have thought of using this individual, but Harry is right, and there really isn't a better choice."

Mr. Parkinson nodded. "Then we will say no more about it." _"Right now, anyway,"_ he thought, _"but the next time you come home, we'll discuss it again until I find out what you're hiding."_

The two sides discussed the mechanics of the families withdrawal from Voldemort's forces for another hour, laying their plans carefully. Every family would have to leave at the same time, because if one left and Voldemort found out about it before the others were gone, they wouldn't get the chance to leave.

They made their plans, and since the family heads had to Fidelius all of their people and the properties that Voldemort knew about, and Harry had to make preparations for hiding those people that would need housing after the exodus, they set the jump off date for this Friday at midnight. If everything went right, they would be done, with everyone hidden by dawn Saturday. Harry and Bill Weasley would be waiting for the family heads at Mr. Sharpstar's office, and by noon that same day, they would have the family heads hidden as well.

After they had that settled, they took a break and Harry approached Mr. Parkinson and made a request that had Mr. Parkinson blinking rapidly, trying not to show how startled he was.

When they sat back down, Harry stood up again and looked around. "I am going to ask for an oath at this point. Not only from you, but from the people on my side of the table as well. This is not because I don't trust you, but because if Voldemort finds out about this, Merlin himself wouldn't be able to save us. Before you ask, I will be giving an oath as well, although mine will be worded slightly differently."

The people at the far end of the table looked at Harry for a minute and then at each other. They discussed it in low tones for a minute and then Mr. Parkinson looked at Harry. "You'll understand if we are a bit nervous about giving an oath that will be magically binding without knowing what it is about. Would you accept one of us giving the oath and hearing what you have to say? Then they can tell the rest of us if the oath is really needed."

Harry shrugged. "It's not such a pretty tale that I want to tell it twice, but I understand where you are coming from, so choose your oath taker."

A few minutes later, Mr. Rimaldi came over to Harry's end of the table. "They have decided that you would be happier if I was the first to take your oath, Mr. Potter."

Harry nodded. He hadn't expected them to send the Death Eater, but it did make sense. Harry would be happier if he was under an oath.

He took him to one side and told him the exact wording of the oath Harry wanted him to take. Mr. Rimaldi considered it for a minute and then took the oath. Harry nodded and told him what he was going to tell the others, if they took the oath. He'd barely gotten half way through it when Mr. Rimaldi stopped him.

Mr. Rimaldi returned to the other end of the table. "Take his oath. The things he has to tell us are worth the oath."

The rest of the group took Harry's oath with varying degrees of reluctance, and then Harry turned to the people on his end of the table. "They took the oath, and I am going to ask you three to take it as well, so that they can be sure that we will not betray them."

Hermione and Ginny merely shrugged and pulled out their wands. Pansy frowned at Harry, biting her lip and looking at her father. She sighed heavily and took the same oath the rest of the group had taken. "I swear by my magic not to disclose anything that is talked about for the rest of this meeting to anyone that is not here without Harry Potter's explicit permission."

After the glow had faded from the three of them, Harry looked at the other end of the table. "You asked me earlier if I knew how to kill Voldemort," Harry said soberly, "and the answer is yes."

The group at the other end of the table stared at Harry in varying degrees of astonishment, except for Mr. Parkinson. "I knew it. Headmaster Dumbledore wouldn't have spent so much time and energy on you if you weren't important."

Harry smiled grimly. "More important than you know. I am the only one that can kill him." Harry told the group about the prophecy and the Horcruxes that made avoiding Voldemort until they were destroyed imperative. When he was done, he looked around the room at the quiet group. "You made the right choice coming to me. I will kill him and with your help, I will do it that much faster and we can all get on with our lives."

Mrs Warrington was frowning thoughtfully. "You want some of us to research Horcrux destruction, and some to fight with you,I understand. Is that correct?"

Harry nodded. "Both groups will be volunteers, and they will have all the help I can offer them."

Mrs. Warrington waved that away. "Given that you personally have a greater stake in the Dark Lord's defeat than anyone else, I believe that. What I want to know is, in researching that topic, we'll have to delve deeply into Dark Magic. What is the Ministry going to think about that?"

Harry shrugged. "Given the help I have received from the Ministry to date, I wasn't planning on telling them what I was doing," he said bluntly. "I will say this. Some of you may have certain items or talents you've been hiding from the Ministry. I don't care,so long as you don't use them in any Dark way. Unregistered Animagi, Dark Items, none of that matters, as long as you don't start acting like Moldywart or the Death Wankers."

The group at the other end of the table flinched visibly again and Harry just sighed. "Get used to it. I plan on focussing his attention on me this year, and calling him names is the least of what I'm going to do to accomplish that."

"You're going to be at Hogwarts, are you not?" asked Mr. Rimaldi. Harry nodded, smiling at Hermione. "I have to go back. Hermione would never let me hear the end of it if she didn't have a chance to nag me about the NEWTs."

Hermione glared at Harry. "I do not nag. I merely force you two to study a bit more than you would if I wasn't there."

Harry raised an eyebrow but refrained from saying anything. He turned back to the family heads. "Do we have an agreement?"

The group at the other end of the table looked at each other and talked quietly among themselves for a few minutes. Mr. Rimaldi turned back to Harry. "Most of us are ready to deal, but I have some problems with you focussing the Dark Lord's attention on Hogwarts. I have family in that school that cannot fight him as you do."

Harry sighed. "A lot of people have children in the school that can't fight Moldywart," he said quietly. "What Hogwarts does have is the best defences of any place in the world, as well as some other advantages that I will not go in to now." Harry looked at Mr. Rimaldi,trying to put every thing he felt in his eyes. "I will not allow anyone else to die in this war, not if I can stop it."

The group at the end of the table stared at Harry, mesmerized by the fire burning in his eyes. Mr. Rimaldi cleared his throat. "I see. I will withdraw my objection, unless events prove you wrong, Mr. Potter."

Harry nodded. "I'm not asking you to trust me from the start, any more than I trust you at this point. We all know that we are working together out of mutual need, and that if things happen to change that, this deal will be re-evaluated and modified accordingly."

The group at the other end of the table frowned in unison. Mrs. Warrington was the first to speak. "Does this mean that when you no longer need us, you will revoke the measures you are taking?"

Harry cocked his head and thought about that for a minute. "Yes, it does." He held up his hands to silence the babble that had started at the other end. "But since I will be needing you until Moldywart is dead, do you care? Do you really want me in charge of the whole group of you after the war is over, or would you prefer to go back to your regular alliances?"

Mr. Parkinson shrugged. "We could do worse than continue the alliance with you at that point," he said pragmatically. "After all, being in the group and with the man who killed Him, would be very good for the family."

The other family heads thought about it and nodded slowly. Being Harry's friends, if he managed to kill Voldemort would be very good for those people, politically and socially. Harry blinked, until he realized what Mr. Parkinson meant. "Well, since we still have a war to win first, let's finish this and worry about continued partnerships after we've gotten Moldywart and the Death Wankers out of the way."

The group nodded, and they started finalizing the details of their escape from Voldemort.

_**OoOoOoO Somewhere in England, at that same moment. OoOoOoO**_

Voldemort stared at the lump of flesh that had been Mr. Zabini before Voldemort had started asking him questions and not getting answers. He looked up and the three people in the room with him were hard pressed to hide the fear his expression raised. "Why is it," hissed Voldemort in a quiet voice, almost conversational, "that people think they can defy me?" He kicked the bloody mass at his feet, sending spatters across two of the Death Eaters in front of him. Neither of them was foolish enough to wipe it off.

Voldemort stood up and began pacing. "How many of the young ones did we lose?"

Peter Pettigrew winced. He'd been the one to count up the people that had run from Voldemort's marry or die order, and he had not been able to force a lesser Death Eater to give Voldemort those numbers. "F-f-fifty people are still unaccounted for, My Lord."

Voldemort turned to Peter, who dropped to the floor, expecting the pain to start any second. "Fifty? That many people managed to escape their families, and none of my Death Eaters knew until after they were gone?"

Bellatrix LeStrange looked up from her avid study of the bloody mass at his feet. Her voice was low and sultry, like the voice of a woman in the aftermath of good sex as she spoke. "Actually, the younger Bole boy seems to have figured it out and joined the group running away. Potter detected his mark somehow and turned him over to the Aurors before he could escape." Bellatrix sighed, and tore her attention away from the corpse she had been enjoying. "That is the story right now. Our contact in the Auror's office hasn't been able to get close enough to talk to him yet, but he thinks he'll have a chance tonight or tomorrow, when they are done interrogating him."

Voldemort thought about that for a few minutes. "If we get that one back, remind me not to kill him for failing to find the location of Potter's refugees. He at least found out they were running away and tried to do something about it."

Peter was remaining still and hoping that Voldemort had forgotten about him. The third person in the chamber stepped up, carefully avoiding the blood pooled before the Dark Lord's throne. "My Lord," Snape said calmly, "from the speed with which they reacted, and the sheer number that escaped, it is plain that they had some sort of plan in place before the chance came about. Maybe we should ask the remaining families about any possible contingency plans they may have in place."

Voldemort nodded slowly. "I should have brought you back years ago, Severus. You think ahead, unlike most of these fools. Take care of that. Find out if any more of them are so disloyal to me as to have plans similar to that, and bring them to me alive. I would show everyone the price of their doubts."

He bent over and grabbed Wormtail's hair, dragging his head up and staring him in the face as Peter whimpered. "Clean this mess up, and deliver the remains to whatever is left of his family."

Voldemort looked down at the body one last time. "I must say, he had the courage of his convictions. I didn't learn anything from him until his mind was nearly destroyed." Voldemort looked up, finding Bellatrix LeStrange's eyes had gone back to the body, and she was watching it with all the intensity of a starving cat watching a mouse. Voldemort had sometimes wondered what happened to those Muggles that she took back to her rooms. Even her husband wouldn't enter those rooms. "Bella," he said, and she looked up at him, a very nearly sexual heat burning in her eyes. "Mr. Potter has annoyed me again. I want you to go tonight and bring me that girl Potter likes."

Bella smiled, and the heat grew in her eyes. "Do you want anybody else there alive when I am done, My Lord?"

Voldemort thought about it. The Weasleys had always opposed him, and nothing would change that. "I think," he said, watching Bella, "that a good many very dead bodies will tell Potter what he can expect for his slut, don't you?"

Bella quivered with pleasure as her master gave her permission to do whatever she wanted to the other people she found at the Burrow. "I think I can insure that he has some wonderful thoughts about what she's doing with us, My Lord." Bellatrix smiled as she thought about what she was going to do, and it was the kind of smile one should only give a lover.

_**OoOoOoO The Hogsmeade Inn, Meeting's End. OoOoOoO**_

Mr. Blount, Mr. Rimaldi and Mrs. Warrington had already left, off to do various things in public places so that nobody connected them being gone at the same time with any possible meetings. Harry was making arrangements for Millicent Bulstrode to visit her little sister while Mr. Parkinson had a few quiet words with Pansy.

When Harry was finished with Miss Montague, he turned to Pansy and her father. Mr. Parkinson looked at Harry. "I want to thank you for what you're doing, Mr. Potter. We've been worrying about how we were going to get out from under the Dark Lord for some time, and the debt we owe you for helping us get away is considerable." He looked at Pansy. "Do you owe me money?"

Pansy sighed. "Yes, father. I'll send it along one of these days."

Mr. Parkinson smirked and then looked at Harry. "There are a few more people that would like to join the growing Potter clan, Mr. Potter. People like Violet and Miranda. Is there somewhere you want them to meet you?"

Harry frowned as he thought about that. "Why aren't they simply staying with the families and going under the Fidelius?"

Mr. Parkinson shrugged. "Because they aren't family, at least not from our group. Most of them are second tier children."

Harry blinked, frowning again. "Second tier?"

Mr. Parkinson nodded. "The first tier are the accepted Death Eaters, and the second tier are the ones that are close to getting the Mark, or who want it. There are about twenty families in that group, and some of their children are not happy about having their lives chosen for them, or pleased about the prospect of having to take the Mark. They jumped at the chance to get away, but they weren't able to make it to the first meeting."

Harry sighed. "To think that just two days ago I was an orphan, with only one family member to worry about."

Mr. Parkinson frowned at Harry. "One? Why do you say that? The Potters are an old family, and they have ties running all through the Wizard world."

Harry stared at Mr. Parkinson, remembering what Mrs. Warrington had said about having family ties through his father. Mr. Parkinson was still speaking. "I don't know the Potter lines that well, but I know that your paternal grandmother was a Montrose by birth and the Montroses and the Greengrasses have a long history of relationships, also, I believe that your great great grandmother on her side was a Bones, before she married a Potter." He stopped, stepping back from Harry as a wave of magic poured out of him.

He looked at Harry, and his eyes widened. Harry was staring at nothing, and his eyes were were hot as he thought about something. Harry controlled himself with a visible effort. He turned to Mr. Parkinson and there was a fire burning deep inside his eyes, one that made Mr. Parkinson flinch. "Are you telling me," he asked quietly, in a tightly controlled voice that raised the hairs at the back of Mr. Parkinson's neck, "That I have more relatives than the Dursleys?"

Harry was shimmering as magic poured out of him in waves, a tangible presence that flowed around everybody near Harry, touching and exploring them with little fingers of magic.

Mr. Parkinson swallowed, choosing his words with care. "A few, but some, like the Greengrasses, are distantly removed, and some were suspected of being Death Eaters at the time of your," he cast about, looking for a polite way to put it. "At the time you defeated the Dark Lord the first time, some of those relations were thought to be on his side, and leaving you with them, if that was true, would be the height of folly."

Harry nodded. Hermione moved a little closer from where she'd been listening. "Harry," she murmured, "If your mother cast a charm that saved you, one tied to blood, it would be tied to her blood, which means it wouldn't work with your father's relatives, as they were only related to her by marriage."

Harry looked at her as Ginny moved up and wormed her way under his arm. "You're right, Hermione," Harry finally said, after thinking about her words for a minute. He closed his eyes and visibly controlled himself. He looked down at Ginny, who was simply holding him, and smiled. "Comfortable?" he asked, almost all traces of the emotions that had been running through him a few seconds ago gone.

Ginny smiled. "Yes, thank you." She hugged him and Harry turned his attention back to the rest of the group. "Have then meet me in Mr. Sharpstar's office tonight at 7:00 if you can get them word that soon, tomorrow night if not."

Mr. Parkinson was staring at Harry, his eyes narrow as he thought. "Mr. Potter, do you know what an Aestuomagius is?"

Harry shrugged and turned to Hermione, who was frowning. "I've seen that term somewhere," she said distractedly, "in an older book that I was reading after meeting Tonks."

Mr. Parkinson nodded. "It would be an older book, as the number of recorded instances of them can be counted on one hand. I personally only know of two. Bernice Parkinson, in 1652, and before her, a Montrose in about 1100. The only reason I know about them is because the last one was a direct ancestor, and she's in the family histories."

Harry was staring at Mr. Parkinson and frowning. "Why are you asking, anyway?"

Mr. Parkinson started to say something, and then frowned. "Right. I keep thinking you should know everything about Wizards, because you're a Potter, but you were raised by Muggles. Mr. Potter, Wizards control their magic easily, and by the time they are eight or so, they simply don't have the displays of magical fluctuation I just saw in you, unless they are brain damaged, which you are not, or they are an Aestuomagius, according to the information I have." He looked at Harry. "The Aestuomagius can use various emotions to power types of spells, giving them far more power than any normal person can put in a spell. Anger can power destructive spells, Love or similar emotions will strengthen healing spells and other emotions will help other classes of spells."

Hermione was frowning now. "That would explain a couple of things that I have not been able to understand, Harry. Third year students simply don't have the power to make a Patronus, certainly not one that can drive away a hundred Dementors. There have been a couple of other incidents, where you did something that should be impossible for you, but you did them anyway."

Harry looked at her, arcing an eyebrow. "And when were you going to tell me that I was doing the impossible?"

Hermione blushed and muttered something indistinct. When Harry just waited, she sighed. "I had a couple of theories about why you could do things that were impossible for other people, and one of them was that you simply didn't know that they were impossible."

Harry frowned and then blinked at Hermione. "You mean the way a cartoon character can stand on the air, simply because he's never studied the law of gravity?"

Hermione blushed again, refusing to meet Harry's eyes. "Not quite that silly," she said in a pained tone, "there are a few documented cases of people doing things that they shouldn't be able to do, until they were told they can't do that, and then never being able to do them again."

Mr. Parkinson shook his head. "Magic doesn't work like that," he said, "Either something can be done with magic or it can't, and the only thing that determines if a particular Wizard can do something is his personal strength. Mr. Potter here seems to be a fairly powerful Wizard, so he can do most things, once he knows how."

Harry coloured. "I'm not that strong."

Mr. Parkinson snorted. "Hogwash. I felt the magic you were emanating just now, and you're well up the scale. Now, if you are an Aestuomagius, the more intensely you feel about something, the stronger you will be, but even if you're not, the power you were just radiating is more than most people have."

He looked at his watch and sighed. "Much as I would like to talk to you more, I have things to do today. Pansy tells me that you would like the services of our trainer in a particular skill."

Harry frowned at the abrupt change of subject, and then his brain caught up and he remembered what skill he'd asked for a trainer in. "Yes, I did. The trainer will be testing four people to see if they can do it, and training them if they can."

Mr. Parkinson nodded. "Where would you like him to meet you?"

Harry frowned and then smiled. "Right here, in Hogsmeade at the Three Broomsticks. Would next Thursday be acceptable?"

Mr. Parkinson nodded and said his goodbyes, giving Pansy a quick hug and a kiss on her cheek. "Take care, daughter," he said, shooting Harry a glance. "Mr. Potter is a magnet for certain types of trouble, and with him looking for trouble this year, you're certain to find some."

Pansy grinned at her father. "Not to mention the trouble I'll be causing in Slytherin House."

Her father took on a martyred look. "Don't remind me about that. You're going to annoy every single person Mr. Potter misses in his attempts to get himself killed." He looked at Harry. "Are you absolutely certain you want that owl?" Harry smirked, and Mr. Parkinson sighed. "You going to wreak havoc with the Death Eaters because of that, you know."

Harry grinned outright. "I can only hope," he said reverently and flashed a smile at Pansy. "I have this long list of Death Wankers that would look smashing as the centrepiece of a funeral."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "You going to get killed, Potter," she predicted morosely, "and I'm going to lose my suitor."

Hermione and Ginny were watching the three of them talk curiously. "Excuse me," said Hermione, "but what are you talking about?"

Harry grinned and told the two of them what he was planning. Hermione sighed. "You not only going to get killed, you're going to get us all killed."

Ginny was laughing, and squeezed out, "What I wouldn't give the see the look on his face." She sighed. "I don't suppose we could send Colin and his camera with it? He's very small," she suggested hopefully.

Harry lit up but Hermione thumped his nose with two fingers, like you would a naughty puppy. "No, Harry." She looked at Ginny. "You either, miss."

Harry sighed regretfully. "She's right, Ginny. Besides, I want a photographer that I know I can trust, which means we need him right now."

Pansy frowned. "Colin? You mean the older Creevy brother? The Official Photojournalist of the Harry Potter Fan Club, Hogwarts Chapter?" Pansy had a sly look on her face as she watched all three Gryffindors freeze. Hermione and Ginny wore guilty faces and Harry was just stunned.

"Excuse me?" he finally got out, once he remembered to shut his mouth. "The who, of the what?"

Pansy repeated herself, looking at Harry. "Surely you have to know you have a Fan Club. According to the official records of the Owl Post, you receive more fan mail than anyone, including Lockhart."

Harry shook his head. "I've never received any fan mail except during fourth year, and that only had one topic."

Pansy sighed. "Harry, your fan mail goes to the head of the Fan Club, who vets it and decided what to do with it." She frowned. "Although I would have assumed that at least some of it was getting to you, as some of the letters get a note from you back."

Harry frowned and his magic began building again. "I have never written a letter to a fan. I think I'd like to know who's imitating me and why."

Pansy shrugged. "That should be easy. Just ask the head of the Fan Club, they have to know about it, even if they're not involved."

Harry looked at Ginny. Ginny looked at Harry and held up her hands. "Don't look at me. I'm not the head of your fan club."

Pansy suddenly grinned. "Not the head, but you have to admit, you're still the only person to have her own Chapter of the Fan Club."

Ginny turned a bright red, refusing to look at Harry. Harry was staring at both of them when Hermione, who had been listening to the entire conversation, thankful Harry wasn't asking her how come she'd never mentioned this to him, asked Pansy a question. "Pansy, how do you know so much about the Fan Club?"

A guilty look flashed across Pansy's face for a split second before she was under control. She waved it off. "I know many things, including that we have a tight schedule today, and should be going along." She started to the door, only to be stopped by Harry's hand on her arm.

"Pansy," Harry asked, watching her closely, "Are you a member of the Fan Club?"

Pansy was about to lie when she looked at Harry. Harry trusted her. It was there in his eyes, he had faith that she would not hurt him and she sighed. "Yes."

Hermione laughed. "Harry, do you know that you may be the first celebrity to marry three of his Fan Club members?"

Miranda was watching them and looked around before entering the conversation. "Actually, a lot of your fans are less about tearing your clothes off, and more about finding out what you're doing now, since Lady Xfiles and Greysnake spend a couple of hundred words every newsletter discussing you and what you're doing."

Pansy and Hermione froze, turning a deep red. Harry stared at them, not understanding what was going on. Ginny was watching them, and the light of understanding flashed across her face as she broke down laughing.

Miranda nudged Ginny. "What do say? Are those worth at least an eight?"

Ginny looked at the red faced Hermione and Pansy and nodded, still laughing. "An eight."

Hermione and Pansy looked at each other and headed for the door. Miranda was right behind Hermione and Ginny followed them all, still smiling. Harry finally caught up with what the three of them had been talking about, and went after the girls.

He caught up with them outside and he looked around before speaking. "Let's all go back to my place, because I have a lot of questions to ask you all." He waited as Hermione pulled out the string that was the Portkey and a few seconds later they disappeared.

_**OoOoOoO The Hogsmeade Inn, After Harry and the girls left. OoOoOoO**_

Auror Kingsley Shacklebolt was impressed. Ron Weasley was shaping up to be one fine strategist. Oh, he made mistakes, but not the same one twice, and given a scenario, he could come up with a working plan in just a few minutes. Those plans were what set him apart from ordinary people. Almost anyone could make a plan to respond to known circumstances, but Ron Weasley's plans would account for the known objectives and still have enough flexibility to deal with any odd bits or changes that would come up. That was what set him apart and Kingsley looked at Ron thoughtfully.

Harry was going to need that skill on his side while this war raged, and Shacklebolt knew where Ron could get some professional level training, if he could be trusted to keep his mouth shut. "Mr. Weasley, if I asked for your oath not to talk about some place I take you, would you give it? It would include the place and the people there."

Ron frowned, but caught the serious note in Shacklebolt's voice and thought about it. "Would you give me an oath that it wouldn't hurt Harry or our mutual cause?"

Shacklebolt smiled. "Yes."

Ron thought for a second and then nodded. Shacklebolt stepped closer to Ron. "This is called Side-Along Apparation," he said, telling Ron what was going to happen and what he was going to do.

Shacklebolt told Tonks to release the guards and make sure they all left safely. A few seconds later the big Auror and the youngest male Weasley were gone.

_**OoOoOoO Somewhere else, a few seconds later. OoOoOoO**_

Ron looked around warily, but all he saw were four grey walls and a single door, which Shacklebolt was facing. There was a small hole in the door and Shacklebolt whispered something into the hole. The hole disappeared and Shacklebolt turned to Ron. "This may take a few minutes."

Ron nodded. "Where are we?"

"This is the entry to the hall of the Unspeakables. Not the one under the Ministry, but the hall where the other Unspeakables work. The Unspeakables in the Hall of Mysteries are concerned with study and research." Shacklebolt sighed, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. "Sometimes, they need something or someone dealt with, either as a result of what they have learned, or as a result of of needing more information. That is what these people do, whatever the other Unspeakables need."

Ron Weasley listened to the care with which Shacklebolt chose his words and noted the lack of descriptions of those actions. "Can I assume that few if any of these actions will make the papers?"

Shacklebolt smiled wryly. "You can assume that, yes."

Ron nodded. "Why are we here?"

Shacklebolt looked at Ron. "Because these people are the very best at the kind of actions you and Harry are going to need, and it would be better to get some training in the types of actions you will need against the Death Eaters, rather than making mistakes in the real fights."

Ron was stunned. "Training? Me? But Harry's the one that needs this, he leads us."

A new voice joined the conversation. "We considered speaking to Mr. Potter, but he is not a planner."

Ron spun around, his wand coming out. As fast as he was, it did no good. The Wizard behind him waved his hand and Ron's wand spun out of his hand and into the other Wizard's hand. "Mr. Potter is very good at making things up on the fly, which is Tactical thinking, but he's not as good at strategical thinking, or planning them in advance."

The Wizard offered Ron his wand back. "Hello Shacklebolt. What did you have in mind?"

"Mr. Weasley is a bit young and untried for the operational side of your group, but he could be an asset in the planning division." Shacklebolt was watching the new Wizard closely.

"Not to mention he currently has this project he's working on with Mr. Potter, which would divide his loyalty."

Ron looked at the other Wizard. "No, it would not. My first loyalty is to Harry. Nothing you have will change that."

The other Wizard smiled. "And we require a field agent's first loyalty be to us. Most of them are unmarried, unattached and dedicated far beyond most Aurors." He grinned at Shacklebolt. "We're still trying to get Kingsley here to join us, if he'll ever drop his off duty affiliations."

Shacklebolt smiled wryly. "That's not going to happen until Voldemort is dead, so you can stop asking." He looked at the other man. "Especially since Mr. Potter has had enough, and is taking charge. He's moving in directions that we've never gone before."

The Unspeakable looked interested. "I would be interested in knowing as much as you can tell me. We've already noted his appearance in public, not once, but twice, which is a change for him."

He looked at Ron. "Enough of this. Mr. Weasley, you have been offered a chance to join us in a limited capability. If you pass the entrance test, you will receive training in several areas, as well as access to sources of information that most people don't have, as long as you work with us. If you work out, after the Voldemort thing is over, you may be offered a more important position."

Ron considered his words carefully. He didn't have Harry or Hermione here to advise him, so he thought about it, and the possible consequences of his decision. "And I don't have to tell you what Harry is doing, or betray his confidences?"

The wizard shook his head. "We, like every other person that knows the Prophecy that he's working under, would very much prefer that he win, and not Voldemort. That is, in fact, the only reason you're being offered this position at your age. We're helping in the only way we can."

Ron stared at the Wizard for a minute. "Would it do me any good to ask how you know about the prophecy?" The Wizard just looked at him and Ron sighed. "I didn't think so." Ron nodded slowly and made his decision. "What is this entrance test?"

The Wizard looked at Shacklebolt. "It was good of you to bring him to us, but you'll have to leave now." The Wizard looked back at Ron. "We'll finish with you, and one way or another, we'll get you back to the Burrow tonight."

Ron shook his head. "I'm staying with Harry right now."

The Wizard nodded. "Then we will get you back there, whether you pass or fail. You won't remember this if you fail, but we'll get you back to your residence."

Shacklebolt was looking serious. "Good luck, Ron." He Apparated out of the room.

Ron took a deep breath and turned to the other Wizard. "Right. Let's get on with this."

"Before we do this, Mr. Weasley, I have to tell you three things, and offer you one last chance to back out. The first thing is, that this is going to hurt, a lot. Unless you've been under the Cruciatus curse, you will never have felt any pain like this. There will be no damage to you, and before you leave, the pain will be only a memory. Do you understand that?"

Ron nodded soberly. "The second thing is that we will be seeing your memories, all of them, even ones you have suppressed. No one here expects you to be an angel, in fact most of us have done things that were very Dark, Darker than anything you can imagine, but what we are looking for is how you make certain decisions. If you pass, you're in, if not, you'll be rejected."

Ron frowned. "If I fail, I'll be Obliviated, won't I? You said I wouldn't remember this, if I wasn't one of you."

"Yes. The last thing you need to know is that if you do pass, you will make a Wizard's Oath, an Unbreakable Oath not to tell anyone what you do here, who you do it with or anything about the time you spend here, without the direct spoken permission of your leader." The Wizard looked at Ron. Do you understand the three things that I have told you?"

Ron thought about what he was getting into. He wasn't all that eager to feel anything that was close to being as painful as the Cruciatus, but ... He looked at the other Wizard, patiently waiting for his answer. "Tell me something. If I pass, will the benefits of working with you be worth this?"

The other Wizard looked at him for a long minute. "While you're undergoing to the test, you'll believe that nothing is worth the pain. After it is over, you'll change your mind."

Ron grimaced. "Cheerful bloke, aren't you. Let's do this."

"So be it, Mr. Weasley." That was the last thing Ron heard, before his world dissolved in sheets of pain and rational thought was gone.

_**OoOoOoO Harry's Room, After the Meeting. OoOoOoO**_

Harry sat down at the table in his room and looked at the three quiet girls. "Sit down, please." They found seats around the table and Harry looked at them. "First, Ginny, would you mind telling how long I've had a Fan Club, and what it's about?"

Ginny sighed. "The Harry Potter Fan Club was started on November 6th, 1981 as a tribute to The Boy Who Lived. The original five Witches that started it soon found more people, and by the Club's first anniversary, the Club had three hundred and sixty four members." Ginny looked at Harry and kept on. "For the first few years, the club was mostly a newsletter, offering guesses and ideas about where you were, what you were doing, things like that."

Ginny sighed. "By the time you were eleven, there were nearly a thousand members, and the news that you would be at Hogwarts stirred the letters up dramatically." She paused for a minute as food appeared in front of them and Dobby fussed over Harry for a minute, disappearing as quickly as he had appeared.

Harry looked at her as he took a bite of his sandwich. "So far, this doesn't sound that bad. Go on."

Ginny sighed. "Somebody at Hogwarts sent a few pictures of you doing things to the Fan Club that first year, and several members that were at Hogwarts sent letters telling everyone else what they knew about what you were doing." Ginny smiled, remembering. "Since they didn't know everything that was going on, some of the stories got a little wild."

She blushed. "The pictures, and the reports that you were a good person started a few crushes on the Boy Who Lived, and that is when the Fan Club started to divide into two groups of people. Those that were interested in what you were doing, and where you would go with your life, and those that simply thought you were cute, and wanted to know who you were friends with, and if you were seeing anyone yet."

Harry winced. "Please tell me that the first group is the largest part of my Fan Club."

"It was," said Hermione quietly, "until the Tri-Wizard's Tournament. After the stories that came from that, and the pictures of you coming out of the lake with both of the hostages, the number of people interested in your anatomy increased. Now, it's about half and half."

Harry finished his sandwich and rubbed his eyes. "Right. Ginny, tell me about your involvement in the Club." Ginny blushed violently, her face almost becoming redder than her hair. "I've been a member since I was seven. That was when I first heard the story of the Boy Who Lived. After you went to Hogwarts from the Burrow that first year, I found a Quill you had left behind."

Harry took in her red face and the way she was avoiding his eyes. "You used that Quill somehow, didn't you?"

Ginny nodded, looking close to bursting into tears. "I had a real, verifiable Harry Potter item. I made a deal with the Witch running the Club then. In return for my own Chapter of the Club and a lifetime free newsletter, I would give them the quill to raffle off to the Club members."

Harry stared at her. "Excuse me? Did you just say that they raffled off my Quill?"

Ginny nodded, ducking her head, so her hair covered her face, hiding her from the other people in the room. Harry sighed and got up. He went around the table, and nudged Ginny. She looked up and Harry wiped a tear away with his hand. He picked Ginny up, getting a startled yelp and sat down, putting her on his lap. "Ginny, I'm not mad. That was a long time ago, and you didn't know me then." He put his arms around her and hugged her gently. "So, what happened then?"

Ginny laid her head on his chest. "I continued to follow the letters, especially after the reports started coming in from Hogwarts, and there was new things to read, not just the same old 'where is he, what is he doing?' letters." She looked at Harry. "What were you doing out late the night you lost a hundred and fifty points for Gryffindor, anyway?"

Harry grinned. "Giving Norbert to Charlie's friends, so Hagrid wouldn't get in trouble for having a dragon."

Ginny blinked, thinking about that. "When we're done here, you're going to sit down and tell me every rule you broke and every thing you did that is not common knowledge."

Harry snickered. "That would take a month or so, and I'm not sure that I remember every rule we broke, or how many times we broke the same rule twice." He frowned. "Or more."

Ginny blinked. "Apparently, I've missed a lot, being a year younger."

Hermione laughed. "You have no idea."

Harry turned to her. "Speaking of having no idea, why did you turn so red when Miranda made her comment?"

Hermione froze, looking like a deer caught in headlights. She closed her eyes and sighed. "I found one of Ginny's newsletters when I stayed at the Burrow, and I was intrigued, so I joined the Club. Some of the letter writers were obviously in Hogwarts, and I wanted to see if I could figure out who they were."

Ginny giggled. "Hermione is still the only person that I know that joined the Club to find out about the people in the Club rather than you."

Harry and Hermione both glared at Ginny who blushed and laid her head back on Harry's chest. Hermione continued. "Some of them were easy to figure out, just by what they had seen, and what they didn't know. A couple were in Gryffindor, because they had seen things in the common room, but most were in other houses, and they were harder to figure out. After all, you can't really point to one person that saw the first test of the Tournament, because everyone saw it."

Harry winced. "How many people in Hogwarts are members of this Club?"

Hermione shrugged. "I can say that there are nineteen that have written letters, but if they don't write letters, I have no way of knowing." She frowned then. That was when I started writing letters, as Lady Xfiles. Some of the things they were saying were just so outlandish that I had to set the record straight." She looked at Harry. "Everything I wrote was common knowledge and all I added was a logic train of events, so that everyone could follow why you might be doing certain things during the tournament."

Pansy finally spoke up. "Figuring out that Lady Xfiles was Hermione was fairly easy, and I joined the Club so I could get some insight into how you and the Trio thought. Father was already making plans to escape Voldemort's group then, as we thought he was gone for good, and we wanted out of the Death Eaters, since all they were doing was draining our funds."

Hermione frowned at Pansy. "How was figuring out I was Lady Xfiles so easy? I was very careful not to put anything in those letters that pointed to me."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Hermione," she said, rolling her eyes, "Your letters were well written, and how many students in Hogwarts do you think know Harry well enough to offer thoughts about his state of mind, and can use words like confabulate properly?"

Hermione sighed. "It was the best word for that sentence."

Harry looked at the three girls, thinking. "Please tell me that none of you ever wrote for that other group you mentioned, the ones that wanted to know about my personal life, not the public knowledge things."

Ginny sighed. "I did, twice. Once, after the events of my first year, telling them that you were the greatest person ever, and once again, after we started dating, to tell them all that they could stop sending you personal things."

Harry blinked. "Personal things?"

Ginny coloured. "Pictures and other things."

Harry still looked blank, and Pansy snickered. "Knickers, Harry. Some of the more interested people have sent you things that they think would show you how much they'd really like to be with you."

Harry stared at her, blinking wildly. "You're not serious?"

Pansy grinned. "If you'd like, you can request that they stop holding your fan mail, and you could see for yourself."

Harry shook his head, trying to clear some very ugly images from his mind. Bulstrode's knickers were not an image he wanted in his mind, ever. "That brings us to the question I had in the first place. Who's holding my mail, and why? Also, who's answering letters in my name?"

The three girls looked at each other and then at Miranda. "How did you know that a letter to Harry had been answered, anyway?"

Miranda smiled. "My cousin is a member of your club, and she got an answer from you about a year ago."

Harry frowned. "Do you know what the letter was about, or what the answer said?"

Miranda shook her head. "I don't have a clue. She was not all that forthcoming with information. I can owl her and ask her, if you don't mind me telling her that her letter may be a forgery."

Harry thought about it. "Go ahead, and be sure you tell her that I will send her a letter that is from me, if she'd give me her letter to me, and the response." He thought about it. "Where does she live, anyway?"

"At our family estate in Romania."

Harry frowned. "Tell her that if I can find a spare day this summer, I'll even deliver the letter in person, if it helps us find out what I need to know."

Miranda grinned. "Mr. Potter, I have to warn you that Marissa is not a member of the group you don't mind. Of course, she's only ten, so it can be understood that she looks up to you."

Harry sighed. "Just find out who's responsible for answering letters in my name, please."

Miranda nodded. "I'll send the letter off tonight."

Harry sighed. "Right. I'll leave that in your hands for now, but I'm going to Mr. Sharpstar's office, to talk to him and warn him about the people coming to his office. After that, I need to visit Luna and her father, and then I want to see if the Minister will see me for a few minutes. I have an offer for him."

Harry looked at Ginny. "You have to go to Mr. Sharpstar's as well, to start your job of the Shades of Grey Co., and keep your parents from finding out where you spent the day." He looked at Hermione. "What are you doing today?"

"I'm going to argue with Miranda until she lets me take her to Knockturn Alley, so I can look through some of the Darker book stores."

Harry frowned, looking at Miranda. "Keep her safe," he ordered and Miranda nodded.

Harry looked at Pansy. "And you? What are you doing?"

Pansy shrugged. "Since I don't actually have anything to do, I'm going to go with you, until we find a job for me."

Harry nodded. He looked down at Ginny who was still in his lap and resting her head on his chest. "You have to get up now, you know."

Ginny grinned at him impishly. "Yes, but is my chair at work going to be this comfortable?"

Harry grinned at her. "If it was, would you get any work done?"

Ginny shook her head. "I doubt it, but I'm not getting up until I get a kiss."

Harry looked at her, and stood up, making her fall to the floor. He kept her from hitting the floor hard and helped her up. He put a finger under her chin and raised her head. "I don't do blackmail," he said softly, "no matter how tempting." He bent and kissed Ginny softly, waiting until she moaned and pressed herself into him to tease her lips with his tongue, entreating entry.

Hermione and Pansy watched avidly. "This one is all Harry," Hermione said quietly, "and I have to say he has the right way to kiss."

Pansy nodded. "He's good for her, but I prefer something a little firmer, more demanding, myself."

Hermione looked at Pansy, and a thoughtful smile crossed her face. They turned their attention back to Harry and Ginny as Harry released Ginny's lips. They both looked a bit stunned and the other two girls sighed in unison.

Pansy stood up and crossed to them. She put her arms around them both and looked at them. "I am insisting on equal time, Mr. Black. Ginny Weasley got kisses from her suitor, and I want kisses from my suitor."

Ginny tried to pull back, but Pansy held her, looking at her. "We're going to be closer than this, if we make that comment from before the meeting real for Harry."

Ginny looked at her. "just remember which lips are his," she said.

Pansy smiled. "I won't forget. His are not as pretty as yours." She turned her head, kissing Harry before he could say anything.

Ginny and Hermione watched now. Unlike Ginny and Harry, who's kiss was soft and mutually pleasing, Pansy and Harry kissed as if their tongues were duelling swords, fencing and probing. Harry tightened his grip on the two girls in his arms and Pansy melted against him, submissively allowing him to take charge of the kiss and do as he wished.

Hermione watched the body language with interest until Harry let Pansy go. Ginny was watching them and Pansy looked down at her and swiftly kissed her, a quick kiss that had barely touched Ginny's lips when Pansy was pulling away. She smiled at Ginny. "Your lips are softer as well."

Ginny froze, looking at Pansy and Harry showed a wisdom beyond his years by remaining still and quiet. Ginny stared at Pansy for a minute and then pulled away from both of them. "I think we have places to be," she said, shaking her head. She looked at Harry and Pansy. "Are you two coming?"

Hermione had an urge to ask for her kiss, but controlled it, knowing Harry wasn't ready for that yet, not with her. She stood up and Crossed to the Floo, stopping only to hug Harry briefly. "Let's argue about what's going to happen in Diagon Alley over a Butterbeer at the Leaky Cauldron, shall we?" she asked Miranda.

Miranda joined her and got some Floo powder from the jar beside the fireplace. "We're not going to argue about it. You can go in there, but if something happens, you will follow orders or I will stun you and do what I need to do to keep you safe."

She stepped into the Floo, calling out "The Leaky Cauldron." and was gone. Hermione sighed. "At least she'll let me look. Harry, we need to be back by the time Ginny has to go home. I think we should go talk to Mrs. Weasley about Ginny tonight, sometime after dinner." She stepped into the fire and was gone in a flash of green.

Ginny and Harry looked at each other. "She has no idea how stubborn mum is, does she?" Ginny said dryly.

Harry shrugged. "No, but then your mum doesn't know how stubborn Hermione can be, when she thinks she's right, either. Think about S.P.E.W."

Ginny grinned. "I bet kisses on mum."

Pansy grinned, and spoke before Harry could. "I'll take that bet, and put ten galleons on Hermione."

Harry rolled his eyes. "I'll bet kisses on Hermione. She's very determined."

The three of them stepped into the fire and a few seconds later, Dobby was clearing the table in an otherwise empty room.

_**OoOoOoO The Omega Hall. OoOoOoO**_

Ron shook his head, trying to shake the cobwebs from his brain. If that was what Harry had felt under the Cruciatus, he had far more respect for him. To be able to shake that off and continue doing things was just remarkable.

Ron had finished the test and now a Witch approached him. "Drink this, Mr. Weasley. It will help with the effects of the test." She offered him a goblet of something dark brown and steaming.

Ron took it and sniffed it. "What is it?" he asked.

The Witch smiled and rattled off a number of potion ingredients, of which Ron only caught beetle eyes. He shrugged and drank it. When he was done, he stared at the cup in surprise. "That's not half bad," he said in surprise.

The Witch smiled at him as she collected the goblet and turned to the door. "Unlike Madame Pomfrey, we know you won't go through that again just to get a dose of the medicine, so we don't have to make it taste bad."

Ron shuddered. "I don't think I would take that test again for any reason."

"No one would, at least not anyone we want working here." Ron looked around to see the Wizard that had been talking to him before the test. "My name is Algarnon, and I'll be your mentor for the next week, until we decide which planning crew you'll be on."

Ron blinked. "I passed?"

Algarnon raised an eyebrow. "Obviously, or you'd be forgetting this right now, and gone in ten minutes."

Ron grinned. "Then let's get on with it. I don't think Harry plans on waiting much longer to deal with Him."

The older Wizard nodded and the two of them stepped through the door.

"Welcome to the Omega Hall, Mr. Weasley."

_**OoOoOoO Knockturn Alley, Hermione and Miranda. OoOoOoO**_

Hermione stepped into another book store and looked around. The old man behind the counter sighed loudly. "You again? I don't have." he stopped as Miranda looked at him. "Oh, I mean, I might have found a few books of the type you were asking for," he said, keeping a wary eye on Miranda, who smiled thinly and put her wand away.

Hermione ignored the byplay, having already figured out that Miranda's leathers and bearing got much faster results in this part of Diagon Alley than her questions. She followed Miranda and the old man to the rear and sighed as she found a room of books that radiated a slight chill, as if the evil in them lowered the temperature of the room.

She got to work, going through the books, skimming them, looking for anything that would help Harry.

_**OoOoOoO The Shades of Grey Office, Ginny. OoOoOoO**_

Ginny looked around the office. She had her own room, with a desk and a chair for her, and two comfortable couches for visitors and clients waiting to be seen. Behind her there were three doors, one of which led to a nicely equipped little kitchen and pantry, stocked with the kinds of things you served guests, mostly drinks and light finger foods.

The other two doors led to an office with a desk and several filing cabinets and a meeting room with a large table and several book shelves with various works on Wizarding law and other subjects.

There was a fireplace in Ginny's reception area and Floo powder in a cannister. None of this had caught Ginny's eye like the Broomstick that was in her closet. It was a brand new Nimbus 2001. Not the top of the Nimbus line any more, it was still one of the best Broomsticks on the market, and it was hers to use.

In fact, if she remained employed by the Shades of Grey company for two years, it would be hers, to take home as well. Mr. Sharpstar had left Harry and Pansy in his office with a stack of papers detailing Harry's properties and brought Ginny down the block, where the Shades of Grey company had new offices, just three doors down from his office. They were on the third floor of the building, but that was not that important to Ginny.

She read the employment contract again. Besides the broom, she recognized a Muggleborn's touch in the contract. No Wizard would have health benefits, whatever those were and these other things that she didn't recognize. She looked at one piece of paper with a frown.

"Employment Conditional Under-age Use of Magic Licence," she read, and pored over it.

"_To whom it may concern;_

_The bearer of this certificate has permission to perform magic directly relating to their job, providing that said magic is not of a Dark nature, or detrimental to the proper security and safety of the Wizard world._

_Signed,_

_Mafalda Hopkirk,_

_Department of Under-age Magic"_

Ginny grinned and looked around. She pulled her wand and summoned a Butterbeer from the pantry. She took a drink and waited. After twenty minutes, she still hadn't gotten an owl, and she smirked. This had serious possibilities. With a smile worthy of Fred and George, she began plotting.

_**OoOoOoO Mr. Sharpstar's Office, Harry and Pansy. OoOoOoO**_

Harry stared at the papers the Solicitor had left in front of them. Pansy was going through them contentedly, making notes on a piece of paper with a slight smile on her face. Harry watched her. "What are you doing, exactly?"

Pansy barely looked up. "In any good corporation, the companies should support each other so that you save money by dealing within the group. I'm trying to sort the companies out and see how they interact."

Harry blinked. "Where did you learn this?"

Pansy shrugged. "I've been around when the parents discuss business, and I've been getting lessons in running the family, in case I had to. I am the only direct line descendent you know."

Harry sighed. "No, I didn't know. In fact, there is a lot I don't know about you, seeing as you still owe me your story."

Pansy looked up then, as a shadow ran across her face. "It's not a nice story in places, Harry. Are you sure you want to know?"

Harry looked at her seriously. "Yes. If even half of what I think happened really happened, I'll be adding some names to my list, and I'll have another crusade to work on after Moldywart is gone."

Mr. Sharpstar walked in the door before Pansy could reply, and all she said was "Later, Harry. I promise."

Mr. Sharpstar began showing Harry the businesses he controlled and the ones he merely had an interest in, and how they worked together, at least the ones that did. Harry had a couple of businesses that didn't do anything that helped with his biggest company's work, and they were separated slightly in the lists.

Harry read a few of the papers and looked up with a frown. "Forgive me if I'm reading this wrong, but do I make Broomsticks?"

Mr. Sharpstar grinned. "Very good, Mr. Potter. I was wondering if you'd catch that." He passed over another sheet. "This is the company that gets the majority of the other company's products."

Harry blinked at the sheet several times and passed it to Pansy without a word. Pansy looked at it and hissed. "You own the Comet Broomstick company? I have one of those."

Mr. Sharpstar nodded. "It's not as flashy as a Nimbus, or as fast as a Firebolt, but the Comet is a good steady reliable Broomstick, and the sales of them are far steadier than the other two, who require lots of money and a need for a superior Broomstick."

Harry was still coming to grips with the knowledge that he owned an entire Broomstick company. He sat there as Pansy and Mr. Sharpstar grinned at him. "I think you broke him, Mr. Sharpstar."

The Solicitor smiled. "No, I think he's just realizing that he owns a Firebolt, which cut into his profits."

Pansy winked at him. "Well then, Harry will just have to give it to me, and use a Comet."

Harry turned to Pansy. "Actually, I was going to retire it, and get a new one anyway. Sirius gave it to me, and its value is too great to be using in ways that could break it."

Pansy smirked. "Perfect. Since Malfoy never had a chance to retrieve his Broomstick, and the story was that they were bought for the House team, that means that our Seeker will have a chance against you and whatever Comet you decide to get."

Harry grinned at her. "You are such a Slytherin, seeking any advantage you can get," he accused playfully.

Pansy nodded vigorously. "And I just know that the brave little Gryffindor in you is dying for a chance to show that you are so good that you can still win with an inferior Broomstick."

Harry opened his mouth to deny it and then paused. Cho was gone, Malfoy was gone, and he wasn't even sure of the Hufflepuff's Seeker's name. He would be facing two new Seekers at least. He grinned at Pansy. "You're right. I will play with one of my company's Broomsticks." Harry smiled, looking at Mr. Sharpstar. "Speaking of that, I think we really need a bit of 'In your face' to Moldywart. See if the Comet Broomstick company would be interested in making it public that Harry Potter rides a Comet." Harry sighed. "I don't suppose they'd be willing to say that Harry Potter rides a Comet while hunting Death Wankers, but it would be fun."

Mr. Sharpstar smiled. "They might not go that far to have you endorse their Broomsticks, but they will be very happy to have you come on board." He thought about it for a minute. We'll have to charge them something, Mr. Potter, just to have something to show the Ministry tax people."

Harry frowned, opening his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, and he sat there for a long minute, thinking. "Charge them a fair price, but every Knut goes to the Moldywart Victim's Fund, which will be administered by the Shades of Grey co." Harry frowned. "Make that the Victim's Relief Fund. If I'm going to keep the ownership of Shades of Grey quiet, I can't have them using my name for Voldemort. As soon as you have it started, hire an honest person to look into the victims of Voldemort, and see if any of their survivors need anything. If they do, make an anonymous donation to them for whatever they need."

Mr. Sharpstar was scribbling notes. He finished them and looked up at Harry. "How far back do you want them to look? What about the victims of the first war?"

"All of his victims, including any Muggles you can track down. Hermione has a group of Muggleborn Wizards and Witches that could help you there, ask her about how to contact them."

Mr. Sharpstar nodded and made another note. "While you're at it," Harry said, "add twenty thousand Galleons from my vault to the fund."

Mr. Sharpstar looked up. "Mr. Potter, The Shades of Grey company already has starting funds of ten thousand Galleons, plus whatever we get from the Comet Broomstick company."

Harry sighed, his mood falling. He stared into space and spoke quietly. "Somehow, I don't think that will be enough."

The three of them went back to studying Harry's inheritance in a sober silence.

_**OoOoOoO Harry's Room, Hermione and Dobby. OoOoOoO**_

Miranda and Hermione appeared in Harry's room after finishing Hermione's shopping trip to Diagon Alley and Hermione looked around. "Dobby, may I see you for a minute, please?"

Dobby appeared, watching Hermione. "What can Dobby do for you, Miss Black?"

Hermione sighed. "First, you could call me Hermione, but right now, I bought some things to help Harry get rid of Voldemort, and I need a safe room to hide them."

Dobby frowned. "Missy Black has Dark Things," he said. "Harry Potter Sir will not be liking that."

Hermione nodded. "I don't like it either Dobby, but Voldemort is very strong in the Dark Arts, and we have to know what he can do before we can counter it."

Dobby thought about that. "Miss Black will study the Dark Arts, and find ways to stop them?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes, that's it exactly, Dobby." Hermione knew that Dobby was a little strange, but she'd never just stopped and talked to him before. "Dobby, may I ask you some questions,please? If you don't want to answer them, you don't have to."

Dobby looked at her for a minute. "What would Miss Black know?"

Hermione sat down. "Why is it so hard to free the House Elves?"

Dobby sighed. "They are normal, here," he said, pointing at his head. "They feel great pleasure in serving, and know that when a Wizard gives a House Elf clothing, it is a great insult, as if they would rather serve themselves than have you around, plus they will not feel the pleasure any more."

Hermione frowned. "They get pleasure from serving?"

Dobby nodded. "It is a feeling like flying, but without leaving the ground. It has been so since before we have tales to remember it."

Hermione blinked. House Elves got high from serving properly? No wonder it was so hard to free them. "Why aren't you like the rest, Dobby?"

Dobby frowned. "Dobby wants to be like them, but old Master cast spells on Dobby, and now I cannot feel the pleasure any more. Now, I have strange urges and thoughts. They led me to try and save Harry Potter Sir, and do things I did then."

Hermione studied Dobby for a minute. "How do you do the things you do, like this room, how did you make it bigger?"

"Wizards not ask that before." Dobby stared at his hands and then looked up at Hermione. "Dobby does not have the words. It is knowing, doing, being." He looked frustrated. "Dobby is sorry, he can't explain it."

Hermione told him it was alright and watched him for a minute, remembering all the things she'd heard about him doing. She looked up. "Dobby, would you do another Hover spell for me? I just want it to hover for a few seconds while I try to examine your magic."

Dobby looked around and saw Hermione's bags from her shopping. They rose into the air as Hermione watched Dobby. _"Hmm,"_ she thought, _"wandless I knew, but silent and no noticeable gestures either."_ Hermione cast several magic detection spells and didn't find anything. She was about to give up when she remembered one more spell, similar to the one they used to find under-age magic.

She cast it, and there was Dobby's magic, shining brightly. She released the spell and told Dobby he could put the things down. She stared at him, considering what she'd learned tonight. Dobby's magic was an innate part of him, as the only way she'd found it was by using a spell to detect magical creatures.

Hermione sighed. She'd been hoping that a human could learn to use magic like a House Elf, but since it was a part of them, you would have to become a House Elf. She thanked Dobby absently and asked him to make a small secure study room. Dobby said he would and vanished with her new books.

Hermione looked at the time and frowned. "Miranda, we have to go, so that we can collect Harry and Pansy to go to the Burrow."

Miranda started towards the Floo. "Miss Black, do you really expect to change a mother's mind about the safety of her only daughter?"

Hermione shook her head. "Of course not. I am hoping that we can get her to agree to see us in public places, so that if she is seen with one of us, she won't get into trouble."

Miranda nodded as she stepped into the Floo. "A reasonable goal. I was afraid you were after the whole thing and that I would be hearing a Weasley tantrum first hand." She Flooed to Mr. Sharpstar's office and Hermione followed her.

They missed Ron stumbling out of the Floo by just seconds.

_**OoOoOoO Harry's Room (again) Ron. OoOoOoO**_

Ron stumbled coming out of the Floo, something he had not done in several years. He lay on the floor, debating whether to sleep there or try and get up and stagger to his room. The healer had warned him that he would feel fairly drained tonight, but this was a bit more than that. He hadn't ever felt this tired and when you add the residual headache, he was quite willing to stay where he was.

Ron looked up as Dobby spoke. "Mr. Wheezy is not well. Do you want some food, Mr. Wheezy?"

Ron gagged and turned an unhealthy green at the thought of food and Dobby's eye widened further, something Ron didn't think was possible. "Dobby get help. If Mr. Wheezy is not wanting food, he might be dying." Dobby disappeared and Ron sighed. Even a House Elf knew about his eating habits. Maybe it was time to change.

He was still laying on the floor, staring absently at the ceiling and trying to move the bathroom closer by sheer will when Dobby returned. "Mr. Wheezy, Dobby has brought help."

Ron looked over and blinked. He stared at the blond Ravenclaw for a minute and then smiled. "Hello Luna. How did you get chosen for this?"

Luna Lovegood was examining Ron with that dreamy air that was so much a part of her. "Few people know where Harry stays, and I have more healer's training than anyone else." She waved her wand at Ron who couldn't even work up the energy to flinch. "Nargles have been sucking your power," she said and Ron sighed. "I have just the potion for that."

Luna handed him a vial and told him to drink it. Ron eyed the potion dubiously. "Luna, what exactly does this potion do?"

Luna shrugged. "It restored energy and diminished power levels," she said looking at him and waiting until he shrugged and started drinking it to finish her comments. "It also renders you invisible to Nargles."

Ron finished the potion as he caught up with what she said and froze, watching his hand. After a minute he looked at Luna. "I'm not invisible."

Luna frowned at him. "Invisible to Nargles, Ron. You're not a Nargle." She sighed. "Which is a pity. They're very cute, once you get past the power sucking."

Ron was about to say some thing else when he stopped with the oddest expression. Luna nodded. "I see the potion is beginning to work."

Ron was fighting an urge to jump up and run around the room. He'd never gotten a rush like this from a Pepper-Up Potion, that's for sure. He thought right then he could do anything, run around the world, climb a cliff bare handed, anything at all. Ron stood up and looked around. Everything was very clear, and he looked at Luna, noting that her left eye had a spot of vivid green in the side of her iris. "Wow. What is in that stuff, and how do I get more?"

Luna frowned at him. "The rush will fade away in a few minutes, leaving you at your normal energy levels. What is in it, is my secret. I haven't perfected it yet."

Ron stared at her. "You created that? That is just brilliant."

Luna smiled. "Hermione owled me earlier. We should be going, if we're going to help Hermione argue with your mum."

Ron cocked his head. "Hermione's going to do what?"

Luna took his arm and led Ron toward the Floo. "Hermione has an idea."

_**OoOoOoO Somewhere in England, Bella and her Death Wankers. OoOoOoO**_

Bella looked at the parchment on the table. She'd drawn a square to represent to Burrow, and a line to mean the wards. She drew a circle around one side. "One this side of the wards is a small grove. We will Apparate into that, and meat here," she said, indicating a quivering man next to her, "will drop the wards in thirty seconds or less, with the weakness he discovered." She waved at him, smiling wickedly as he flinched and moaned.

"He'll do that," she hissed, watching her latest toy, "because if he succeeds, he won't be taken out of his cell for a week." The scared man looked very happy at that idea. "On the other hand, if it takes more than thirty seconds, he's going to spend that same week in my chambers."

Bella looked at the group of Death Eaters she was taking with her. Only one of them had been a Death Eater for more than three years, since the Dark Lord didn't want too many of the higher ranked Death Eaters in the same place. The Ministry fiasco had taught him not to have all the Death Eaters with a brain on the same raid, in case something went wrong.

"When the wards go down, we will advance on the house. Pay attention here. The point of this raid is to capture Ginny Weasley and bring her back to the Dark Lord. She is a red-headed girl of about sixteen. Every one else on the property is to die, preferably in slow painful ways. If you can't arrange that, kill them and dismember the bodies, so that figuring out which bit goes where is a problem." Bella looked around. "Ginny Weasley though, is the Dark Lord's meat, and I will... amuse myself with anyone that hurts her, understood?"

The Death Eaters nodded and everyone prepared to Apparate out.

_**OoOoOoO The Burrow, Molly and Ginny. OoOoOoO**_

Ginny Flooed into the Burrow and started toward her room. "Ginny." She stopped and looked at Molly, waiting to hear what her mum wanted. Molly Weasley looked at the rebellious gleam in Ginny's eye and sighed. She'd spent the day listening to the silent house, but it hadn't been the silence that had made her reconsider her hasty decision of the day before, but a memory as she looked through an old photo album. "Ginny, would you join me in the parlour, please?"

Ginny followed Molly into the parlour and sat down, watching her mother. Molly sat down and looked toward Ginny, but her eyes were seeing something far away in time.

Ginny frowned. She'd heard this story many times. Molly caught the frown and held up her hand. "You've heard that I know. What you haven't heard is that my father hated him with a passion, and forbid me to see him ever again."

Ginny was listening now, as she'd never heard the slightest whisper of trouble about their marriage. "I hid it for awhile, but after we left school, I was caught sneaking over to his house one day and I left home that day." Molly looked at Ginny. "I told my father that I loved him, but he was my past, and Arthur was going to be my future."

She sighed, looking at that place that only she could see, deep inside her mind. "I never saw father alive again. He died while we were estranged, and we never had the chance to say I'm sorry to each other."

Molly looked at Ginny. "I don't want you involved in this war. You're my youngest, my only daughter and I don't want to lose you." She held up her hand as Ginny started to say something. "I know, you'll be careful, etc., etc. All of you will say that, but count the children I have in this war, darling. Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron and you. That's six of my seven children. Bill's already been hurt, Ron and you were hurt in the Ministry. How long is it going to be before one of you comes back to me the same way Fabian and Gideon did?"

Ginny stared at her mother. She'd never thought of the numbers of Weasleys in this war like that, but mum was right, the law of averages would catch up with them sooner or later. Before she could say anything, Molly continued. "I reacted out of fear for you last night, and I was wrong to do so. I was not wrong to keep you out of the war,but to order you to stay in hiding like that was wrong. Harry may love you, I hope he does, but he doesn't need you in this, any more than he should be involved. War is the job of adults."

Ginny frowned at her mother. "Harry is the only person that can kill Voldemort," she blurted out. Molly stared at her, her face going pale. "I shouldn't have said that," Ginny said, "It's Harry's secret to tell."

Molly frowned as so many little things fell into place for her. Half understood comments at Order meetings, the care and time spent on Harry, all the things that hadn't quite added up over the years fell into place in that instant. "My poor boy."

Ginny stared at her mum. "Harry hasn't been a boy since he killed the Voldemort-possessed Quirrell in his first year, Mum. Voldemort has tried to kill him more than a dozen times according to Hermione, and he's always lived. He's not a boy."

Molly was about to say something when they felt the wards quiver and break under a massive flux of power. Ginny was running for the door with her wand out as Molly reached for the Floo powder.

The crack of multiple Apparations sounded and the next thing they heard chilled them to the bones. "Bring me the girl, and make everyone else suffer before they die." Ginny had heard that voice before, and she cursed. Molly looked at her. That woman out there wanted her baby. Molly Weasley pulled her wand and stood up from the Floo. No one was taking her baby without a fight.

Ginny looked around, finding a niche where she could see and still have a bit of cover. Bella wanted to kill her family, did she? Ginny grinned mirthlessly. She had an interesting new variant of her Bat Bogey hex to test out, and Bella would be perfect. First though, she was going to teach these fools that attacking the Weasleys would cost them far more than they wanted to pay.

The two woman looked at each other as the front and back door exploded within seconds of each other and the sounds of fire came from the roof. In that instant, with danger coming for both of them, they only knew fear for the other and they had a moment of perfect agreement.

These Death Wankers were about to find out why you didn't want to anger a Weasley woman.

_**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

_**oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo**_

_**OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO**_

_Right. Sorry about that cliffie, but... What am I saying? I love doing cliffies like that and I'm not sorry about that._

_I am sorry that it took me so long to update this, and to be honest, I have no real excuse. As those of you that read the updates on my profile know, I put this on hold for NaNoWriMo in Nov. I finished that, (Yea! 50,000 words in thirty days!! Go Me!!) and to be completely honest, I just couldn't bear to look at my keyboard until nearly Xmas. A week at home with my kin and animals helped out and I started writing again in early Jan. I finished this chapter and started the editing process... and then went back and read the entire thing in one sitting. Chapter six just didn't fit as written then, and I threw it all out and started over. So, here it is, and I hope you like it. It should keep most of you happy for awhile anyway, being 29,245 words according to OpenOffice, a program I Highly Recommend._

_Next is a chapter of Prophecy, the last chapter before the excrement strikes the oscillating rotary blades._

_I'm having a mild problem with my Hermione Bunnies, so they may sit and age for a bit before I work on them again._

_Until then, I Highly Recommend the following Authors: UdderPD, Jeconais, everyone at FanFicAuthorsdotnet and Ruskbyte, to name a few._

_Love,_

_Raven_


	7. Death Fire and Respect

_**Death, Fire and Respect.**_

Hermione stepped out of the Floo into Nicholas Sharpstar's office and looked around. Miranda had come through and was busy looking in every room for possible threats. Harry and Pansy were sitting at a desk, having moved enough books to spread out some papers.

They had looked up when Miranda and Hermione had come through the Floo, but were back to examining the paperwork again. Hermione looked at Harry. He was not happy about something, Hermione could tell. He had that slight little line between his eyes that meant something had annoyed him, a sight Hermione had seen many times over the years, usually in Professor Snape's classroom.

She went over and sat on a stool next to Harry. "Hello Harry, Pansy. What's all this?"

Harry looked at her and smiled briefly before returning his attention to the paper in his hands. Pansy handed her a sheaf of parchment. "This is an overview of the Black family holdings that Harry will be assuming control of when he becomes of age."

Hermione looked at the list she had in her hands and frowned. "Oh dear."

Harry snorted. "That's a bit of an understatement, Hermione. They own quite a bit of Knockturn Alley and Borgia's Row as well."

Hermione recognized a few of the names as shops she had been in seen when she was in Knockturn Alley earlier today. Borgia's Row was the French equivalent of Knockturn Alley, and Harry appeared to own nearly as much of it as he did Knockturn Alley. She looked at Harry, understanding the anger now. Harry had enough problems without anyone finding out that he controlled close to half of the Dark Arts trade in two countries.

She thought about it for a few minutes. Harry would not want to own these businesses, but he couldn't just sell them off to anyone that wanted them either. Anyone that wanted these businesses would probably be a follower or a supporter of Voldemort. Given the changes in the war's publicity that Harry wanted to start, this was not going to look good, if anyone found out, and these records would be public knowledge in a little under two months when Harry came of age.

She looked at the list again and frowned. "Harry, you do know that you don't actually own most of these businesses, don't you? You own the premises they are in, but you don't own the business itself."

Harry looked at her and she pointed to a small note at the bottom of the third page. "This note explains that any business on this list with a (p) behind it means that you own the premises, but not the business itself. Basically, you're the Dark Landlord."

Harry was reading the list when Hermione made that comment and he paused, looking at her. Hermione just shrugged. "I couldn't help it."

Pansy was snickering. "I can just see it now." She made a sneering face, very much like Snape's face, whenever Harry was in sight. "You're late with the rent. Crucio."

Harry just sighed as he pointedly ignored the two giggling girls. It was Miranda that defended Harry. "Mr. Potter would never 'Crucio' someone for being late with their rent." Harry smirked at the two girls until Miranda finished her comment. "He'd simply evict them, and when the dark things came out of the shop and then they'd get hurt."

Harry blinked, looking injured. "I don't hurt people that often," he protested.

"No sir, you don't," said Miranda calmly, "but I have noticed that a good many people that have been less than helpful to you have ended up in a bad way. Voldemort, disembodied for over a decade, Quirrell, dead. Barty Couch Jr., Kissed. You didn't actually do most of those things, but all of those people did things to you. The list goes on, but I think you get the point."

Harry frowned as he thought about what she'd said. "What about Bella and Wormtail?"

Miranda shrugged. "Bella is new to the list of people that have hurt you directly, and Wormtail suffers every day in two ways. Voldemort's tortures, and the burden of an unpaid Wizard's debt to you." She favored Harry with a lopsided grin. "I'm sure that if I give you another few months, you'll find a way to make their lives even more unbearable."

Harry grinned. "I don't think it will take a couple of months. In fact, I rather think anyone around Moldywart will not be happy starting Saturday." Harry smiled to himself, thinking about the rude shock in store for Moldywart this weekend. Pity he couldn't count on the snake faced Ridgil falling over of a heart attack.

He shook that off and looked at Hermione. "I believe you had something you wanted to do tonight?"

Hermione looked at the clock and nodded. "Ginny has already shown that she will find a way to be with you, even if she's told not to. We're going to try and talk Mrs. Weasley into letting her be around you in public places so that if she is seen with you, she has an alibi."

Harry smiled. "You are brilliant. I was wondering how to get into the papers without worrying about Ginny."

Miranda stepped up to the Floo. "What's the name of the Weasley home?"

Hermione sighed. "The Burrow."

Miranda nodded and stepped into the Floo. A flash of green fire, and she was gone. Hermione stepped up to the fireplace and looked back at Harry. "One of these days, Mr. Potter, we're going to talk about you saddling me with her. She's a wonderful person, and completely determined that for the next year, I won't suffer so much as a hangnail." She glared at Harry's smile. "It's not funny when she is dragging me out of an interesting book to get some exercise."

Hermione turned to the Floo and cast the Floo powder. "The Burrow." The fire flared up green and then turned red, spilling Hermione back onto the floor.

The three of them stared blankly at the Floo for a second and then Pansy swore. "Someone has blocked the Floo to the Burrow."

_**OoOoOoO Ron and Luna, Harry's Room. OoOoOoO**_

Ron shook his head as the rush wore off and he stopped having urges to jump around like a happy Dobby. He took a deep breath and looked at Luna, feeling better than he had since the argument with his mother. "Right. Explain what we're doing again, now that I can concentrate?"

Luna frowned. "I really have to work on that. It shouldn't hit you quite like that," she said. Luna looked at Ron. "Hermione wants to argue your mother into letting Ginny be seen with us this summer."

Ron blinked, several times. "Hermione the Bossy is going to take mum on over the safety of Ginny?" He turned toward the Floo. "I have got to see this."

Luna stood up and started toward the Floo. "I simply hope they don't say anything they can't take back. Harry doesn't need internal fights when he has to face He Who Should Not Be Respected."

Ron stopped, looking at Luna. "What did you call him?"

"He Who Should Not Be Respected." Ron just looked at her and she smiled that dreamy smile and held out the Floo powder. "He likes capital letters in his name, and that has more than just calling him You Know Who."

Ron shook his head. "Your potion must have done something to me, because that almost made sense."

Luna smiled again. "Or maybe, Ron, you're just learning to see the world from a larger perspective than you have before."

Ron looked at Luna, studying her for a minute. "One minute, you're acting as if you don't live in the same world with the rest of us, and then you say something like that, and it seems that you see things clearer than anyone. How do you do that?"

Luna held out the Floo powder, and her smile was all woman. "It's a gift."

Ron threw a bit of the powder she was offering in the fire and called out, "The Burrow." Luna jumped aside a second later as he flew back out, landing on his butt in the room as the fire flared red. Ron frowned at the Floo. "What the Hell?"

Luna stared at the Floo, and her eyes were dreamy, but her voice wasn't. "There's something very wrong at your home."

_**OoOoOoO Molly, Ginny and Miranda, The Burrow. OoOoOoO**_

_The two woman looked at each other as the front and back door exploded within seconds of each other and the sounds of fire came from the roof. In that instant, with danger coming for both of them, they only knew fear for the other and they had a moment of perfect agreement._

_These Death Wankers were about to find out why you didn't want to anger a Weasley woman._

Molly saw the first Death Eater come in the front door, his wand raised, and she was ready. Molly had known for some time that her home might become a target, and she'd set up a few defenses without making them obvious. "Accio Spoon," she called, and the spoon propped over the door sailed toward her. The Death Eater looked up at the motion, just in time to be struck in the face by the falling iron cauldron that the spoon had been supporting.

Ginny was watching the back door and didn't see the first enemy go down. A Death Eater stepped through the remains of the back and Ginny already had her wand pointed at the door. As the man stepped through the doorway, Ginny cast a very simple household spell. "Reparo."

She wasn't casting at the man, but at the pieces of the door. The door tried to fly back together and reform itself, but there was an obstruction and the Death Eater screamed as dozens of sharp wooden splinters dug their way into and through him.

Outside, Bella frowned as she heard that first scream. That had sounded almost like one of her men.

Molly saw the next person coming through the front door and banished the first Death Eater back out the door, knocking the second one over and giving herself the few seconds she needed to set up her next trap.

"Wingardium Leviosa," she chanted, and the bucket next to the door spilled soapy water and oil over the floor just inside the door. While she watched the door, she Accioed three of her larger knives from the kitchen. She kept them handy, hoping not to have to resort to such drastic measures, but afraid she would have to, to keep Ginny safe.

Both of the Weasley women looked up as someone on the other side started thinking and the sound of breaking glass came from at least two windows out of their sight. Very soon, they would have enemies coming from three or more places at once.

Molly looked at Ginny, seeing the fierce anger burning in the girl's eyes. "I don't suppose you'll leave, if I tell you to, will you?" she asked in a resigned tone.

Ginny looked at her mother. "After you, mum, but if you're still here, I will be as well."

Molly sighed as she cast the chilling charm to turn the soapy, oily mess on her floor to ice. "You're as stubborn as I am, Ginevra."

Ginny winced, but smiled at her mother before turning her attention back to the door. "Thank you, mum. I think that's the nicest thing you've ever told me."

The two women froze as an unearthly scream rose in the living room and Death exploded out of the room an instant later.

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Hermione and Pansy, Mr. Sharpstar's office. OoOoOoO**_

Harry stared at the Floo desperately. He knew what was happening at the Weasley's, he could see the Dark Mark floating above the house, as clearly as if he was there.

Hermione and Pansy jumped as Harry's magic exploded, sending tendrils of magic crawling over everything in the room and making the glass in the window vibrate.

Hermione looked around and grabbed a parchment. "Pansy, keep him calm for a minute. I need a minute to create a Portkey." Hermione set to work, setting her mind on the drive down to the Burrow. Since you couldn't use a Portkey to get directly to the Burrow, the closest she would be able to get was the driveway. She shivered as Harry's magic touched her, crawling over her in an oddly intimate way. She kept on with her task, even as her mind cataloged the feeling for later examination.

"_It's warm, and feels reassuring somehow, even though I can feel the power behind it. It's as if I know that this power will never hurt me." _Hermione continued to think about that in the back of her head as she finished the Portkey. "Portus."

Pansy crossed to Harry, steeling herself to touch him. She reached out and touched his arm, flinching at the raw anger in his face as he whirled. "Harry," she said desperately, knowing that she was about to die.

Harry glared at her for a second, and she felt those bits of magic touch her, roaming over her body and raising all the little hairs at the back of neck and along her arms. It was hot, a fiery blast of power that made her want to fall to her knees and beg for mercy.

"Harry, you have to calm down," she forced out, "Hermione's making a Portkey, and you're not helping us get to Ginny." At Ginny's name, the magic flared higher for a second, and then Harry closed his eyes and his face stilled, as if something had simply wiped the emotion from him.

A few seconds later he was looking at the still terrified Pansy. He reached out, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand and ignoring the flinching. Pansy looked at him and Harry spoke quietly, so that only she heard him. "As long as you are true to me, I will never hurt you deliberately."

Pansy stared at Harry, and knew in that instant that Harry was everything Hermione and Ginny had said he was. This man was so good that he didn't understand just how rare he was, nor that other people could only hope to emulate him.

In that instant, Pansy realized that Harry saw everyone that wasn't trying to hurt him or his friends the same way she saw her family, and he would do anything to save them, just as she would for her family. Harry's family was just a bit larger.

Harry and Pansy stared at each other for a minute, Harry willing her to trust him, to know that he'd never hurt her, and Pansy having that moment of insight into Harry. "I've got it," Hermione said, and Pansy watched as Harry changed, becoming the fighter he needed to be to protect his family.

Harry looked at the two girls. "I don't suppose you two will stay here?" he questioned.

Hermione had an instant of humour. "Sorry, Harry, but I must have messed the Portkey up. It will only work for three people."

Pansy looked at Hermione for a second and shrugged. She blurred and Hermione yelped as she turned into a snake. "Pick me up, Harry, and next week, you're going to teach me to fight like the DA does. Right now, I'm better off in this shape."

Harry picked her up, looping her around his neck. He looked at Hermione and gestured at the parchment she held. "Stories later," he commanded, "Let's go."

A few seconds later, Mr. Sharpstar rose from his stool, rubbing his arms where Harry's magic had touched him. Harry's power had touched him, examined him and then left him alone, as if knowing he was not a threat. He crossed to the Floo and called the Auror's office. Getting the attention of the night duty Auror, he told him that the Burrow was under Death Eater attack and pulled his head out of the fire.

He sat back down on his stool and considered the scene he'd just seen. Brains, bravery and enough power to level Diagon Alley. That group had everything, and some hidden talents as well.

Nicholas Sharpstar smiled at the picture of his wife, killed in the first Voldemort war. "I think our vengeance has arrived, Mary love. I think we may finally see the end of That Rat Bastard, and I'll be able to fulfill my promise to you."

He went to work on Harry's affairs with a smile.

_**OoOoOoO Miranda, The Burrow. OoOoOoO**_

Miranda stepped out of the Floo and her training kicked her into action before her mind caught up. She tossed a red powder into the Floo even as her wand came up. "Reducto" she cast, watching as the arm reaching through the window exploded at the elbow, leaving the forearm to drop on the floor.

She took a second to swallow a potion from her pocket and then a Death Eater's face appeared in another window. Miranda charged, feeling the potion kick in, making her reflexes jump, boosting her already impressive physical skills to levels unmatchable by anyone not on this potion.

Somewhere in the back of her head, her logical mind was screaming as her heart rate rose, racing to supply the blood flow needed by the increased activity of her body. That thought had barely crossed her mind though when she reached the Death Eater and and stuck her wand three inches deep in his eye.

She gave the man a second to scream his pain and then ended his suffering forever. "Reducto."

She turned toward the only opening to the rest of the house and the hand not holding a wand swept under her robes and came out with an ugly Kris knife. Twenty-five centimeters of flame bladed steel, it was designed to tear and rip flesh, making wounds that were hard to heal. She started toward the doorway at speeds not obtainable by anything completely human, aware in the back of her mind that she was a terrible sight.

The potion she took boosted her strength, reflexes and speed, but at a high cost. Her heart rate was four times normal, and the blood was flowing through her system so fast that it elevated her blood pressure to levels that made some of the smaller veins in her extremities pop, making her face and hands appear blood red, and covering her eyes with a film of blood.

Add the absolute lack of any expression on her face, and she was a frightful sight, one that even gave some of the smarter giants pause.

She burst into the eating area of the kitchen and noted Molly and Ginny instantly. The two of them were staring at her as four Death Eaters entered the room, and before the Weasley women got over the shock of the bloody demon that had entered the kitchen, she had one Death Eater's head off completely and had rolled under another, banishing him through the ceiling and into the inferno that was the upper floor of the Burrow.

His screams did not last long.

Long before they ended though, Ginny had shook off the shock and turned back to her door. She hissed as she saw the being in the door, and saw the light glinting off of his hand. She had known him for a long time, but never met him as a man. "Hello Scabbers," she called and Peter Pettigrew looked at her, as she cast a new spell she'd made at him. This thing was the cause of most of Harry's pain, and Ginny was going to make him suffer. She cast a new variant of her favorite hex and swore as it missed.

Peter was already transforming as he took in the scene in the Burrow. A Defender was in there, and he was not going into tight quarters after her. A Defender could be killed, but it usually took a dozen wizards with lots of room to move.

The bottom floor of a burning house was not the place to fight her, and he wasn't sure what Ginny Weasley had cast at him, but given the spells she normally used, he was quite certain he wouldn't like whatever it did. That girl could be ruthless at times, and she had his vote for the Weasley most likely to become a Dark Lord.

He transformed again by Bella. "I think it's time to leave, and take this information to the Dark Lord," he told Bella.

Bella cocked her head and stared at him. "What information?" she asked.

"There's a Defender working with the Weasleys in there, and all of our people are dead, or about to be if they go in there."

Bella's eyes lit up. "A Defender? Truly?" She looked at the door and stepped in that direction, pulling her wand. "I've always wanted to try my hand..." she said, as Wormtail stared at her back. He'd known that she was insane, but this was bloody nutters even for Bella.

Wormtail shrugged and ran for the edge of the Anti-Apparation wards. If she had a death wish, then it was his duty to get away and tell the Dark Lord what had happened to the raiding party. He winced at the thought of the pain he would suffer, but at least pain meant you were alive to feel anything.

In the Burrow, Molly had gotten another Death Eater when he fell on the icy oily slick she'd created. As he fell, she activated the charm on the two broom handles that she'd removed the bristles from, and they started beating him in the head.

Ginny had no enemies in reach at the moment and had time to look at Molly's handiwork. The brooms were beating the Death Eater and singing mum's favorite Celestina Warbeck song. Ginny noted with a grin that the Broomsticks were keeping perfect time with the song.

She looked for Miranda, but she had already killed everything in her reach and had gone out the back door, where she was causing Death Eaters to regret their choice of hobbies by the sounds. Ginny looked at the bits of Death Eaters Miranda had left behind and shuddered.

Something fell out of the ceiling and Ginny's gorge rose as she realized it was the body of the Death Eater that Miranda had banished up into the ceiling. She looked up, becoming aware of the heat and flames and coming out of her niche. "Mum, I think it's time to go."

Molly looked at Ginny as a bit of the ceiling fell. She didn't bother replying but held Ginny's hand as they crossed to the back door, figuring that anything that Miranda left behind wouldn't bother them, unless they stepped in one of them.

They stopped just outside the house, stunned by the scene in the garden. Weirdly lit by the burning house, it was impossible to tell how many dead bodies were in the garden, but one thing was certain.

Not one of the bodies they could see was intact.

Molly looked at Ginny, and they were both pale. "This is why I didn't want you involved in this war," Molly said quietly. "It would kill me to receive you back like this."

Ginny looked at the destruction of her home, the only home she'd ever known, and the death scattered around the back of the house. "I understand." Molly looked at her, and saw that Ginny did understand.

Ginny sighed and stood up straighter, her face growing older as Molly watched her little girl look at the death around them. "Mum, I love you, and I would hate to cause you pain, but as a wise woman once said, You are my past." Ginny was about to say something else when she cocked her head. A smile lit her face, and she seemed to glow deep inside. "Harry!"

She dropped her mother's hand and ran around the side of the building, where Molly could barely hear shouting, and assumed that the battle still raged out in front of the Burrow. Molly sighed, thinking about how she'd felt around Arthur all those years ago, and still felt about him. She remembered the glow from Ginny when she heard Harry and sighed. "And he is your future."

_**OoOoOoO Ron and Luna, Harry's Room. OoOoOoO**_

Ron stared at Luna and felt fear grow in his heart. Luna took his hand. "Don't worry," she said, "help is already there, and more is on the way."

Ron stared at her as if she was even more nutters than normal for her. "Pardon me if I'd like to be there when my home is attacked," he said sarcastically.

Luna smiled again. "Your wish is my command." She looked around. "Dobby."

"Yes, Miss Luna?" Dobby asked, appearing in front of them.

Luna frowned, looking at him. "Are you and Winky strong enough to carry Ronald? His home is being attacked by Death Eaters, and he needs to be there now."

Dobby's eyes got wider than normal and he shook his head so hard that his ears flopped in his face. "No, no, Miss Luna. House Elfs can't do that. Only Wizards can Apparate with another being."

Luna sighed and looked at Ron. She stepped closer to Dobby and whispered something in his ear. Dobby stared at her. "Promise? Enough for Dobby and Winky?"

Luna nodded, and Dobby turned to Ron. "Please be sitting down, Mr. Wheezy," Dobby said even as Winky appeared and the two of them stepped closer to Ron.

"What are we going to do?" Ron asked, nervous for no reason that he could name.

Luna smiled, and it was her dreamy smile again. "Magic, Ronald, anyone should know that."

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Hermione and Pansy, The Burrow. OoOoOoO**_

The two teenagers and the snake appeared at the start of the drive to the Burrow and Harry started toward the fire engulfing the Burrow. "Ginny!"

Harry was shimmering again as he stared at the fiery ruin of the Burrow and his fear for Ginny grew. The magic was creating a nearly visible aura around Harry as he ran toward the Burrow, dropping Pansy in the grass at the side of the drive.

A Death Eater left on guard made the mistake of standing up and casting a curse in Harry's direction. It missed as Harry ran, but it flashed by close enough to get Harry's attention, and his wand rose. "Expelliarmus," he ground out, and the spell caught the unfortunate Death Eater in the wand hand.

Harry had always been good at this particular spell, and with his feelings running high, the Death Eater had no chance to hold on to his wand.

His wand, and the hand it was in tore themselves free at the wrist and flew off into the darkness, disappearing from sight before they even started to arc downward on their short flight.

The Death Eater was still staring numbly at his wrist when Hermione stunned him.

Harry ran on, fear growing in his heart as the top floor of the Burrow fell in, sending tongues of flame shooting high in the sky. Harry was looking at the Burrow and missed the rat that stared at him from the grass.

Unfortunately for Peter, Pansy was slithering along as fast as she could go, and came up directly behind him. She was going to ignore the rat until she saw the silver paw. Pansy realized what that meant and struck.

Peter started to turn and his rat instincts kicked in as he caught a scent that raised fear in the rat. He jumped high, trying to avoid the snake that was trying to bite him.

Neither of them was completely successful. Pansy got a bit of the rat, but didn't get any poison in him. Peter avoided the bite, but the snake was too close, and the next thing he knew, he was wrapped up by the snake, and it was staring at him, less than three centimeters from his snout.

He thought about transforming, but even as he started, the snake hissed at him. When he looked at it, it shook its head 'no' very distinctly. He stared at it, and realized he'd been caught not by a snake, but an Animagus.

Peter sighed and got as comfortable as he could when he was being squeezed tightly by an Animagus who was watching him closely and showing him fangs that literally dripped with poison. He began trying to think of some way to get out of this one.

Hermione stunned the Death Eater and took a second to use his robes to make a rough bandage around his arm. She wasn't all that worried about him dying, but from the screams and sounds coming from the burrow, he very well might be the only survivor, and they might want to ask him a few questions after Harry calmed down.

Even as she stood up and turned to the Burrow she saw what looked like a Quaffle sail into the woods. A second later she realized it had been a head, and she winced. Somebody up there was not playing anymore. Hermione started toward the Burrow, hoping to get at least one more alive, to double check the answers she got from the first one.

Bella had started toward the Burrow when she saw a woman shoot out of the back door and disembowel one Death Eater with one hand while casting a spell at another one that set him on fire, providing a hellish red light to illuminate the scene in the garden.

The Defender was moving so fast she blurred, darting, leaping and rolling like a possessed acrobat. This was a brutal performance though, as every time the bloody faced demon came near any Death Eater, blood flew. Worse yet, her right hand would point at someone, and curses flew continuously from it.

Bella stopped, considering the scene. She'd been watching the Dark Lord torment people for years, and even he'd never shown such a variety of ways to cause pain. Bella was half in love with this Defender, until she got her first good look at her, when she came up next to one of the Death Eaters and stuck the knife and her wand in his belly.

Bella sighed as the Defender cast a spell to heat metal on her own knife and left it there to roast the man from the inside out. "If you were a man, I'd back you against the Dark Lord, and we could have such fun," Bella muttered. She backed up until she was outside the Anti-Apparation wards.

The Defender finished scanning the yard and found nothing still living. She looked at Bella and Bella looked at her. The two women stared at each other, evaluating the other woman.

Bella noted the slowing movements of the Defender and nodded. Those impossible speeds were a potion then. And most of those spells were simple ones, used creatively. Bella would have to put a few hours in looking over the spells she knew, looking at them for damage and pain potential. She looked at the woman then, seeking to look under the guise of the Defender. What sort of woman was she? Could she be turned, or used?

Miranda Riddle stared at Bella, wondering if she could stay on her feet long enough to take her. That potion allowed her to do things impossible for any normal human, but the cost was high. Until she got to her potions, she was going to be as tired as if she'd been working hard for four straight days without a break.

Defenders were bodyguards, and they normally faced one to six enemies, trying to kill or kidnap the person being guarded. Miranda had taken that potion a bit too early, following her training, and she was coming off of it with the most dangerous Death Eater in front of her.

Miranda stared at her, seeing the respect and the challenge. She understood that perfectly. Bellatrix Lestrange was a legend, unbeaten in years, and only backed down by two men alive. Voldemort and Harry Potter. Miranda wanted to test her skill against that legend so badly she could taste it. She looked in Bella's eyes and knew the stories were true. That woman was not even on the same plane with reality. She was a cunning and crafty enemy though, and that made her a challenge that any Defender would rise for.

Both women looked sideways as sounds came closer, recognizing that a duel could not happen now, and both of them relieved in a way.

Miranda looked at Bella and made a decision. "Four days from today, we should meet at the Wickerbasket. We can decide when and where then."

Bella sighed, smiling happily. "I will know you, but how will you know me?"

Miranda smiled, tapping her leathers. "Wearing this, and a scowl, how many people do you think approach me?"

Bella giggled. "Only those tired of living I would think. I will be there, unless the Dark Lord has other plans for me."

Miranda nodded. "Until then."

Bella raised her wand in a duelist's salute, admiring the nerve of her opponent. She didn't even flinch, as if she knew Bella wasn't going to do anything right now. "I don't suppose you'd join me, for some creative mayhem? No? Pity. Fino a che non veniamo a contatto di ancora, il mio amore," Bella Apparated away, having stayed just outside the wards when she saw the Defender.

Miranda blinked. That whole scene had been absolutely surreal. She'd challenged Bellatrix Lestrange to a duel, been accepted and then called My Love by her. Miranda sighed and swayed slightly, only to find strong arms holding her up on both sides. She swore to herself. She was crashing hard, if she didn't notice two people coming up behind her. It was bad enough that she hadn't realized Bella was moving in time to do anything, and only luck and Bella's twisted insanity had made it a salute and not an attack. Then Molly and Hermione had managed to come up behind her without her noticing. She looked at Hermione, making sure she was unhurt and saw two of her.

Hermione had heard the conversation between the two women, but didn't think Molly had and wasn't going to say anything until she could talk to Miranda privately. She looked at Miranda and sighed. She'd seen Harry looking like that too many times not to know what was going to happen next. "Good night, Miranda."

Miranda cocked her head to ask what Hermione meant and her head just kept going as Miranda passed out. Molly and Hermione looked at each other over the girl they were supporting. Hermione looked at the Burrow as it fell in. "Harry's place? He has room for everyone, and he's the only person I know that does."

Molly tried to levitate Miranda only to find her spell sliding off the leathers until she levitated a bench from the garden and laid Miranda on top of it. "What do you mean? Harry's living with those Muggles, isn't he?"

Hermione shrugged. "Sort of. Let me tell you about the last two days."

The two women went off with Miranda following Molly and Hermione telling Molly about the last forty-eight hours, leaving out very little.

_**OoOoOoO Ron, Luna, Dobby and Winky, Here and There. OoOoOoO**_

Dobby, Winky and Ron appeared in the kitchen of the Burrow, and Ron had barely realized that there were bodies everywhere and the house was on fire before they were back in Harry's room. He was about to scream at Dobby when Dobby spoke first. "We must go back, but not in house, it's going to fall in too soon. We appear outside this time."

Ron choked down his comments and had a new problem as Luna sat in his lap. "Can you carry us both, Dobby? I think Harry may need us all."

Dobby looked at Winky and nodded. Winky and Dobby grabbed Ron and Luna and disappeared again.

_**OoOoOoO Augusta and Neville Longbottom, The Longbottom Estate. OoOoOoO**_

Neville was puttering around in the greenhouse when his grandmother called him urgently from the house. He grabbed up his wand and ran for the house, looking around for trouble.

Neville's grandmother stood on the front walk, dressed to go out. "Come with me, Neville. The Aurors have a report of Death Eaters at the Weasley residence."

Neville nodded, and grinned at his grandmother as they prepared to Apparate to the Burrow. "I see you still haven't gotten around to telling the Ministry that the private Auror line is still active here."

The elderly woman shrugged. "I'll get around to it, one of these years."

They disappeared with a crack.

_**OoOoOoO Everyone, The Burrow. OoOoOoO**_

Ron, Luna, Dobby, Winky, Neville, his grandmother and the first wave of Aurors appeared nearly together at the drive to the Burrow, causing a great many raised wands and a couple of aborted curses as people expecting to find Death Eaters popped into sight.

Harry had come around the corner of the Burrow and been hit with a high velocity redhead, who had attached herself to Harry quite firmly. "He got away," she said mournfully. "I had Scabbers in my sight and he got away."

Harry shrugged. "Wormtail is good at running. One day, he'll run out of places to run. Right now, are you hurt?"

Ginny shook her head. "Mum and I are fine, mostly."

Harry nodded, looking around at the devastation. "You did all of this?" he questioned, pointing at three very dead Death Eaters, including one missing his head.

Ginny shook her head. "Mum and I got a few, but they were in the house. As far as I know, everything outside the house is Miranda's work."

Harry sighed in relief. "I owe that woman. If she hadn't decided to start guarding Hermione when she did, I'd have been too late here."

The two teens turned as the Burrow fell in, flames leaping high as they devoured the Weasley home.

Ginny held Harry tightly as she watched her home. She didn't bother wiping the tears away as she mourned the only home she'd ever known.

Molly and Hermione found them there, and Harry frowned as he took in the body floating behind Mrs. Weasley. "Is Miranda OK?" he asked worriedly.

"She's fine," said Hermione, "she just pushed herself a bit too far. She told me what to do in this case, and as soon as we get back to your place, I'll have her up and about again." Hermione looked at Harry. "Do you remember what I said, about us having a talk about Miranda?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, why?"

"Just forget it."

The four of them started around to the front of the building and Harry stopped. Looking around he frowned. "Hermione, have you seen Pansy?"

Hermione was about to say something when she remembered what Pansy had done in the Solicitor's office and she looked at Harry. He shook his head very slightly and Hermione nodded. "No, but she can Apparate. Maybe she went for help."

Harry started looking around, worried. "You three take Miranda away from the house, I'm going to check and make sure none of these are Pansy."

Hermione took Molly's hand and started toward the sounds of other people. "Let's go and see who else is here."

Ginny looked at Harry and held him tighter. "I think I'll go with you, Harry. You tend to get in trouble when you're on your own."

Hermione shrugged. "She can help you look for her, Harry, and it's not as if we're going to have that many secrets anyway."

Harry nodded and the two of them started back toward the Burrow. They hadn't gotten very far when Molly shrieked. Harry and Ginny whipped around, their wands coming up and seeking a target.

Molly was pointing at the side of the drive and Hermione was calming her. "Harry!" she called, "it's your spy."

Harry started toward them as Hermione calmed Molly, who didn't seem to like snakes much. The only thing that had kept her from hexing the snake at the side of the road in fact, was that she was still using her wand to levitate Miranda and the bench.

Harry came closer and saw Pansy in her Animagus form wrapped around something. It wasn't until he was bending over that he figured out what she had. "You stopped for dinner?" he asked her in Parseltongue.

"No, you bleeding idiot, I've got a rat with a silver paw here."

Harry looked again and smiled. "Beautiful work, Pansy, but stay in that form, Molly thinks you're a real snake, and there are a lot of people here."

The people in question were approaching in fact, the Aurors first, having gotten the cluster at the drive straightened out.

The first two Aurors had their wands out and were approaching carefully. "Identify yourselves." The Auror wasn't rude, but it was obvious that he wanted some answers, right now.

Hermione stepped forward, ignoring the wands that pointed at her as she moved. "We are the people who were attacked. Molly Weasley, Ginny Weasley, Harry Potter, and Hermione Granger-Black. The girl on the bench is my Defender."

The Aurors looked at each other. The first one shrugged and lowered his wand, while keeping an eye on the group. "Harry Potter?"

Harry grabbed Wormtail by the scruff of his neck and told Pansy to let go of him. "Stay in this shape, and keep quiet and I won't give you to the Aurors," Harry hissed at Peter who remained limp and unresisting.

Harry picked up Pansy and slid her into his shirt. "Yes?"

The Auror came closer and looked at Harry's forehead. "Would you mind telling me what happened here? Since the Ministry debacle I am given to trust your word."

Harry stared at the Auror in disbelief. "You're in a minority."

"Yes, I know," he said, waving a hand at his partner. "But we spent two hours cataloging the damage to the Hall as well as the injuries gotten and spells used there. Your version of the events, or rather, your team's accounts fit the damage much better than the official story."

Harry sighed. "I finally meet a good Auror, and I can't tell him anything. I arrived after the event was over. After Hermione gets her Defender back on her feet, you'll have to talk to her." He pulled Ginny up. "The Defender, Ginny and Molly were the only ones here, during the attack."

The Auror blinked and looked at the floating form of Miranda. "One Defender and two women drove off Death Eaters? I am impressed."

Hermione looked up. "One of them was Bellatrix Lestrange. I saw her in the Ministry. But they only drove off Lestrange. The rest are around the house," Hermione appeared to be thinking of a tactful way to say this, "in various states of terminal disrepair."

The Aurors looked at each other again. The one that had been speaking to Harry grinned. "You know, Sir, between you and your friends and now this Defender, I think I'll take a vacation. You Know Who is dead, he just doesn't know it yet." He smiled, showing he was only kidding and then turned serious again. "Does anyone need St. Mungo's?"

At everyone's negative response, he nodded. "Mrs. Weasley, if you'll come with me, I need to ask you some questions. Miss,"

Hermione interrupted him. "It's Hermione Granger-Black, of the Black family."

He blinked. "I see. Which name would you prefer?"

Hermione shrugged. "I am in the Wizard world, I'll use my Wizard name."

The Auror nodded. "Well then, Miss, if you would kindly take my partner along to wherever you need to go to get your Defender back on her feet, she'll ask you the questions I'll be asking Mrs. Weasley, and we'll get this over with."

Harry was staring at the Auror in disbelief. "He's polite, believes me and wants to get all this out of the way so we can get on with our lives. No threats, no attempts to arrest me, nothing."

Hermione, who knew what Harry was talking about, laughed. "Would you like to ask Voldemort to schedule his attacks only when they're on duty?"

Harry nodded eagerly. "Yes. Oh. Um, make that a no. After he gets my gift, I don't think he'll be in any mood to be reasonable."

The male Auror stared at Harry. "You're sending the Dark Lord a gift?" he asked incredulously.

Harry grinned. "He'll get it Saturday." Harry looked around and motioned the two Aurors over to the small shed that Arthur Weasley kept his Muggle things in. Hidden from the rest of the group, Harry told them was his plan was.

The three of them came back around the building and Harry was smiling. The male Auror was frowning thoughtfully and his partner was grinning. "Mr. Potter, I would like one of those gifts, when you have a chance. I'll pay for it of course."

Harry shrugged. "No need to pay, Auror?"

She rolled her eyes. "My partner doesn't use names, so he always forgets to give them. I am Auror Amanda Wilkes and he's Senior Auror Theodore Roswell." She looked at Harry. "Yes, there is a need to pay. Aurors are forbidden to accept gifts from people they interact with in the course of their duties."

Harry thought about that and smiled slyly. "Well, they are Muggle made, so let me convert the price... oh, yes. It will cost you two Knuts."

Amanda looked at him suspiciously. "That seems quite low, Mr. Potter."

Harry grinned. "Well, if you find the shop I had them made at, and if you can get the Muggle who made them to say otherwise, and If you can prove I under charged you, I'll accept the difference."

Amanda looked at him as the rest of the people there watched them. "I hear a lot of ifs in that statement, Mr. Potter. Could I assume that you can get in contact with the shopkeeper quickly?" At Harry's smirk she sighed. "Then I'll just have to take your word for it."

Ron couldn't hold back anymore. "Would somebody tell me what happened here?" Ron was nearly shouting in his agitation.

Harry turned to him and saw Hermione off to one side, bending over a figure. "What have you got there, Hermione?"

Hermione looked up. "Harry," she said in a strange voice. "do you remember disarming a Death Eater on the way to the house?"

Harry thought back. He'd been worried about Ginny and the Weasleys, running down the drive. "Oh, yeah, I remember. Is he alive?"

She looked at him. "He's missing a hand, where your spell tore it off, but that's not important. Harry, it's Professor Snape."


	8. Vengeance, Flight and Anger

_Yes, I know it has been too long and I will try to update more often. I can point to a busted Wireless card and a shortage of funds that made getting a new one a tad difficult, or to the sheer amount of hours I put in at School and Work or with my SO... but I think you'd rather find out what Harry is going to do to Snape._

_This chapter will take us to Monday, ending the first week of the Summer. Seven days down, three hundred and fifty-eight days to go. (Unless I need an extra day, in which case this will suddenly become a leap year.)_

_**Harry Potter and The Shades of Grey**_

_**Vengeance, Flight and Anger**_

_**OoOoOoO Everyone, The Burrow. OoOoOoO**_

Harry stared at Hermione for an instant as he absorbed what she'd said. The Aurors were quicker to understand, not having the emotional baggage that Harry did and they started toward Snape. The motion jarred Harry out of his immobility and once again power flowed from him.

Everyone froze as an invisible wind swept across them, fueled by years of hatred and abuse. Everyone felt it a bit differently, or a lot differently, depending on who they were.

Hermione noted that despite being stronger, it felt the same way it had in the office. She looked around, trying to judge how the others felt it.

The two Aurors were staring at Harry, awe plain in their faces. Harry shimmered to the eye, as if a heat wave had wrapped itself around him. They felt the magic as tendrils of wind that examined them and stopped, a presence that watched them warily.

Dobby and Winky felt it as sunshine, a power that warmed them and made them more than they were and they basked in it, knowing that Harry was theirs, as they were his.

Ron felt it as a cool wind, one that checked him and wrapped itself around him like a protective blanket.

Pansy shivered, still feeling the heat and wanting to change and beg Harry for something.

Peter Pettigrew felt it as a scouring blast, stripping his illusions away and baring the smallness of his very soul. It stopped and pulled back, watching him like a snake. His own caution and the Rat's fear made him go limp and still, trying to hide.

Ginny felt it as a warm and tingling joy, that caused her to remember many happy hours holding Harry. It flowed over her and she welcomed it, pulling closer to Harry.

Mrs Weasley felt it as a comforting blanket, one that she'd had as a very young girl, that kept the monsters away.

Luna blinked as a tsunami washed over her, stripping her dreamy expression away and began fighting it. She knew she was not like the others, but she didn't want to be like them either. The wave receded, replaced by her more familiar magic. The two magics swirled around her and she watched them, making sure Harry's magic couldn't touch her inside her shell.

Miranda stirred as something touched her, and she woke with her energy levels being replaced slightly, enough that she could sit up and look around.

Augusta Longbottom felt it as an impersonal but friendly force that examined her and left, sweeping on toward Neville.

Neville was watching behind them, worried about Bella returning and was surprised by the magic that flowed around him like armour. He couldn't see what was going on, but he knew that this was Harry's doing. Harry had always tried to shield his friends, to be their protection against the world and this was more of the same, with Harry's feel all over it.

Harry was not aware of the reactions of his magic, or of the way people felt it. He simply knew where they were, and the sense that had saved him on occasion told him that there were no threats close by. He walked over to Hermione and Snape and looked down at his enemy.

"I've dreamed of this. Snape, helpless at my feet." Harry's voice was low, almost conversational, but everyone shivered at the sheer menace in it. "None of those dreams ever ended with him in less than five pieces."

Harry looked up at Hermione and Ginny, standing beside him. His eyes had that pale shine, the fire that made them seem to glow and the look on his face did not bode well for Snape's continued existence. "Ever since he killed Professor Dumbledore, I've been dreaming of what I would do to him if I ever had him in my hands."

Harry looked back at Snape. "So many possibilities, so many choices," he said, fingering his wand until a small cough caught his attention.

Harry looked up at Auror Amanda Wilkes, who had coughed. Her eyes widened as Harry's magic examined her again, this time with an edge to it. "Mr. Potter, I know that you have some history with this man, but Professor Dumbledore meant a great deal to at least three generations of Wizards. Don't they deserve to be involved in vengeance for him?"

Harry frowned at her as his magic edged higher, sensing his revenge slipping away. Amanda kept her expression calm, but inside she was beginning to understand how six schoolchildren could capture eleven Death Eaters. This man was like a force of nature. You could shelter against it, or avoid it, but if the fury of the storm came crashing down on you, it would destroy you.

Pansy hissed, fearing that Harry would do something that would keep him from being able to protect her family. "Harry, you cannot take a proper revenge in front of witnesses."

Ginny, Ron and Neville were behind Harry completely, willing to let him do whatever he wanted.

Hermione sighed, her hate battling her logic and losing. "Harry, if you take revenge now, against a helpless man, how will you be different than Professor Snape? Isn't that what he's been doing for years? Taking revenge against you since he couldn't do anything to your father?"

Augusta Longbottom watched Harry Potter battle his desires and offered another view. "Mr. Potter, it seems to me that the Ministry has a hard time holding on to Death Eaters. If you give him to them, they will try him, convict him and send him to Azkaban. He will then rot, unless he is freed. Of course, if he is freed, you can always find him again and then, maybe there won't be so many witnesses around."

Ron snickered suddenly, drawing all eyes to him. "Besides Harry, imagine what the Daily Prophet is going to have to say when you capture another Death Eater."

Harry frowned at nothing, looking at Snape.

The people around him remained quiet, watching the young man battle with himself.

Harry sighed finally, his magic receding. "I suppose you are right," he said, looking at the others. "Except for one thing, Ron. I didn't capture him, Hermione did, and I'm going to make sure everyone knows it."

"Me? No, you stopped him." Hermione said, staring at Harry.

Harry smiled slyly. "You captured him, Hermione. A young _Muggleborn schoolgirl_ captured a _senior Death Eater_."

Hermione blinked as she thought about it and began to smile, a smile matched by most of the people around her. "You know, I believe you're right, Harry. It was much easier than I thought too. I thought he was supposed to be dangerous."

Luna smiled. "Can I have the first interview?"

Hermione looked at Luna, hesitating. Harry guessed at her thoughts. "Luna, this would be another of those public service announcements, really quite boring."

Luna nodded. "I know, but you want to use Daddy's paper for that sort of thing, and one of us should learn to write them, so we don't have to depend on the pest."

Harry and Hermione frowned at each as Luna reminded them that their other choice was Rita Skeeter and had to concede that Luna had a point.

The two Aurors had finished tying Snape up and Auror Roswell pulled a Portkey from his pocket. He looked at the group of people watching him. "I'm going to take him to Auror Headquarters personally. The Ministry may lose him later, but it won't be on my watch."

Harry smirked. "Please make sure he knows who took his hand, and who captured him when he wakes up. In fact, you can tell him I'm keeping his hand as a trophy."

Hermione, Molly and Mrs. Longbottom all frowned at him and Harry held up his hands defensively. "I'm not even going to look for it." The smirk returned. "But he won't know that."

Auror Roswell smiled and shook his head. "Remind me never to get you mad at me," he said as he used the Portkey to take Snape away.

Auror Wilkes frowned at where her boss had just disappeared. "I'm sure," she called irritably after him, "that doing so would get you out of the interviews and clean up never crossed your mind either."

She turned to say something to the group but was interrupted as multiple Apparation cracks sounded. Everyone turned toward the sounds and their wands rose, only to be lowered a minute later.

Fred, George, Bill, Charlie, Mr. Weasley and Lee stood there with Katie, Angeline and a few others that Harry knew from school but didn't actually know well. The twins had bulging pockets and their wands while the rest had only wands, except Bill, who had a wand and a scepter of some sort.

They new group froze, staring at the Burrow, fully engulfed in flames that were dying down but still high.

It didn't take them long to get caught up on the events of the night and they had a strange tale of their own.

They had all been doing things, according to their own lives when each of them got a Portkey and a note that the Burrow was under attack. Dropping what they were doing, they had answered the call and been sent to one room, where another Portkey, big enough for them all had waited. They had tried to use it, but it had failed.

Figuring out that it had failed because the place it was trying to go no longer existed had taken a few minutes and then they had simply tried to Apparate until it worked. When the first of them disappeared, the rest had followed.

Molly Weasley, now that the danger was past, was more than happy to feel Mr. Weasley slide an arm around her. She slumped, leaning on the man she shared so much with. They looked at each other while the other drew away, giving them a space to be private in. "How will we rebuild?" Molly asked softly.

"Right now," said Arthur, "I don't care. We'll worry about that later. I'm just thankful every one is safe."

Harry was staring at the Burrow. "Bill, have you been told why you're in England yet?"

Bill shook his head. "Just that I'm going to be creating threefold wards for a customer with high security needs and a large pocketbook." He blinked and looked at Harry. "How did?" His voice trailed off as he figured it out. "You're my client?"

Harry nodded. "This is one of the places you would have warded. When the builders start rebuilding it, I want those wards to be perfect, cost be damned. Build them into the very structure."

Arthur heard him and frowned. "Harry," he started to say, until Harry whirled and focused those eyes on him.

Harry tilted his head. He couldn't, wouldn't bully the man who had done so much for him. A sly smile crossed his face as he crossed to stand before them. He looked at them earnestly. "Haven't you said I was family, and that I should consider this my home?"

Arthur and Molly looked at each other, knowing what Harry was going to say, but unwilling to refute the love they had for Harry. "Of course, Harry, but."

"But nothing. I am simply rebuilding my home." Harry grinned. "I will, of course be guided by you doing so, but it would be nice to have a room that wasn't violent orange."

Ron jerked, staring at Harry with an injured look. "What's wrong with orange?" he wanted to know.

Harry was looking at Ron's parents. "I think, you will find that I won't even have to spend as much as you think. Bill will help, as will Charlie I think."

Fred and George frowned. "You forgot someone, Harry," Fred said.

"Not that you would know," added George.

But we've got enough to add a room or three," continued Fred.

Harry shrugged. "As long as you don't endanger my investment." He froze suddenly as Molly sniffed. Harry looked at her, and seemed to wilt as he saw her frown.

"Harry, dear, is there something you'd like to tell me about where the twins got the money to start that shop?"

"No, not really," Harry said, "but it doesn't appear that I have a choice now."

Molly frowned at him a minute longer while Harry waited for the explosion he knew was coming. To his surprise, she began smiling. "Got you." He blinked at her in surprise while she chuckled at his expression. "Honestly, dear. I may not be Hermione, but they just don't know that many people with money to loan. The final proof though, was when they bought Ron the dress robes. Only you would have thought of that. I've just been waiting for somebody to be brave enough to tell me about it." She frowned at him. "Although I must admit, it is lucky for you that you were at home during the summer when I figured it out, or you would have gotten an Howler."

Arthur smiled at Molly. Whatever he was going to say though was interrupted by another Apparation crack. The group turned and once again, wands were raised.

The being that stood there though, completely dumbfounded almost everyone. He was nearly two meters tall and wearing some sort of Armour. His head was covered with an old helm from which a set of dragon horns rose and he held a wand and a large knife, nearly a short sword, that flickered with a soft flame. His face was painted in diagonal stripes and he had barely appeared when he was charging toward the group. He saw the group and stopped.

The lone fighter and the group stared at each other and then recognition set in for most of the group.

"Percy?!"

Percy removed the helm and as he did, he shrank to a more normal height, the paint disappearing from his face. His face was flaming, but he refused to budge under the weight of all the stares. He looked beyond them and stared at the Burrow, or the remains of it. For just an instant, an implacable hate rose in his face, and then he was simply Percy again. "While I may disagree with some of the opinions of my family," he said, making everyone blink to hear Prissy Percy coming from a man in dragon hide armour, "They are still family, and violence is simply not allowed." He slid the sword into its scabbard without looking at it, demonstrating an easy familiarity that raised a few eyebrows.

He suddenly grinned at Fred and George. "What? No pranks, or unkind comments?"

Fred and George looked at each other. "I think,"

"We've been,"

"Had again."

With that exchange, the rest of the Weasleys crowded around Percy, touching and babbling in a tumult that no one that had not grown up in a large family could possibly make sense of.

Harry grinned at he watched them. "Excuse me, Mr. Potter." Harry turned. Mrs. Longbottom was standing next to him. "I am offering the hospitality of Longbottom Manor to the Weasleys until their home is ready again, and I was wondering if you would care to join them."

Harry shook his head. "I can't. I have to stay where I am for a while longer."

She nodded gravely, eyes on Harry. "If you would, I would like to meet with you on the fifteenth at 1100 am. Perhaps at Gringotts?"

Harry nodded, watching her curiously but she didn't elaborate, merely stepping back and rejoining Neville. Harry wondered about it for a minute and then was distracted when Ginny found her way to him again.

Lee and the others had left about an hour after they arrived. When Harry asked them why they had come, Lee had merely grinned and told him to ask the twins. Harry made a mental note to do just that.

Talking to the Aurors took another couple of hours and Harry got to see first hand what happens when a Defender goes into battle. Not counting the four that Molly and Ginny had dealt with, eleven Death Eaters would not be leaving the Burrow. Seven of the fifteen bodies were too badly burned to be identified, as they had all been in the Burrow as it burned, but the rest were sent off to St Mungo's to be examined and identified.

Harry had looked at them all, and had only known one of them. William Colasher had been a seventh year Slytherin when Harry was a first year, and Harry had never actually met him, but that birthmark on the side of his face was unmistakable.

By the time the Aurors had finished gathering up all the bits and pieces Miranda had scattered around, Harry was looking a bit green and most of the others had retired to the front of the house to wait.

Pansy was dozing around his waist, Peter was being very quiet and Hermione was the only person still with him. He'd asked her why she kept watching, even after she threw up twice and Hermione had simply looked at him. "She did this for me."

Harry had slipped an arm around Hermione and pulled her close. He understood that completely, and it was a simular thought that had Harry watching. He'd made the deal that had Miranda defending Hermione, and he had to watch the aftermath. This was after all, his doing even if he hadn't been here.

Two of the Aurors came out of the little grove carrying a sack. "We found the head."

Harry winced at those words and Hermione hugged him. "Don't get upset, Harry. Neither of us knew just what Miranda would do, and to be honest, after hearing Ginny's story, I'm not going to waste any sleep on what happened to them."

Harry sighed but nodded. Knowing that this whole raid had been done for the specific purpose of kidnapping Ginny had put a whole new slant on things for Harry.

It was nearly midnight before everything was done and Mrs. Longbottom had left much earlier to prepare rooms for the Weasleys that would be staying with them. Right now, that was only Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny.

The fire had long ago gone out, aided by a few spells and Arthur and Molly were combing through the rubble, looking for anything that might have survived.

Luna had left to go home and give her father a report on what had happened. Harry and Hermione could only hope that the story didn't get twisted too much. The Weasley boys were standing guard around the workers, in case the Death Eaters tried anything else and hoping they would. The reality of what had happened and what could have happened was beginning to sink in and all the Weasley boys were united in their desire to hurt somebody or something for the loss of their home.

Percy had been questioned about his attire, and he had only looked at Ron. "I literally cannot say anything about it." Ron had blinked and then eyed Percy thoughtfully. He had also refused to let go of the helmet, despite the twins attempting to get their hands on it.

Even now, they were eyeing the helmet and talking to each other in half sentences that made perfect sense to them.

When the time came for everyone to leave the Aurors left first, promising to return in the morning to make sure they hadn't missed anything. Neville left next, to carry word that their guests would be along shortly.

Finally, only Harry and Hermione were left as the only human non Weasleys. Pansy was still dozing, wrapped around Harry's waist and Peter had long ago fallen asleep. The group spent a long minute staring at the ruins. Each of them was remembering the Burrow, paying silent homage to the old building that had seen so much love and laughter, tears and pain.

Bill was the first to break the silence. "I have to go. I have wards to design," he said with a significant look at Harry. "I'll do my best." He disappeared with a crack. Charlie sighed and followed him without a word.

Percy hugged his parents. "I will be contributing to the rebuilding." He followed the other two men then.

Fred and George looked at everyone and each other. For once, only Fred spoke. "We have to open the shop in the morning. We'll be by to see you all after we close for the day." He looked at Harry. "We're still working on your little project." The two of them disappeared.

Ron sighed and hugged his mother. He started to say something and fell silent. He was gone then, leaving whatever he had been going to say unspoken.

Arthur took Ginny's hand after she kissed Harry goodbye and they disappeared, headed for the Longbottom estate. Molly looked at Harry. "You will take care of my little girl." It wasn't a threat, or even a warning, merely a statement of fact.

Harry nodded silently. Molly nodded in turn, the two of them in perfect accord that Ginny not get hurt and then Molly followed her husband.

Harry and Hermione stared at the Burrow for a few minutes longer, both of them busy with their own thoughts.

Finally, Hermione turned to Harry. "Harry, I have a question."

Harry looked at her. She indicated the Burrow. "We don't have a Floo," she said, laying out the problem logically, "We can't Side-Along Apparate, and I don't know where to make a Portkey to. How are we going to leave?"

_**OoOoOoO Somewhere in England. OoOoOoO**_

Voldemort looked up as Bellatrix came in the room humming and with a dreamy look on her face. "Where is the girl?" he asked.

Bellatrix smiled softly. "Potter must have more money than we knew, and he cares for her. He has a Defender guarding her." She smiled again, picturing the scene as the Defender had exploded out of the house. "They are everything they are rumoured to be."

Lord Voldemort stared at her and then invaded her mind brutally, ripping everything she'd seen out of her head. He sat back and thought about this new development. This would change things. Voldemort thought he could take a Defender out, and Bellatrix was going to give it a shot in a few days, so he would wait and see what happened.

If Bellatrix won, he would insure that the news was spread, increasing the fear people had of his Death Eaters. If she didn't, he'd simply give the people something else to think about. There was a daycare centre that was open twenty four hours a day for people that worked nights.

The slaughter of ten or twelve children would not go unremarked, not if it was done right.

Far more worrying was Wormtail. According to Bellatrix's memories, he'd left long before her but he wasn't back yet. That meant he might have been captured.

It was vaguely possible that he was hiding, trying to avoid the anger he thought Voldemort would be feeling at this failure, but Voldemort had not lost all grip on sanity yet.

No one walked into a Defender unprepared and got away unscathed, and Voldemort knew it. That anyone had gotten away at all was a small miracle and Voldemort would not punish them for this mission. Against a normal force, he would but Defenders were not normal.

He looked at Bellatrix who was still dreaming about the Defender and shook his head. That woman was completely insane. It was a good thing the Defender was a woman, or Bellatrix would be following him around, trying to seduce him into more and more death and destruction.

He frowned as he felt the pleasure rising in Bellatrix. He didn't need this right now. "Go away." He watched her go, knowing from the sounds of her steps that she was heading for the cages they kept Muggles in. Some Muggle was going to entertain Bella in her rooms tonight.

Voldemort was no longer capable of pity or even he might have felt sorry for the Muggle. Since he couldn't, he turned his mind to thinking about what he'd have to do if Pettigrew had been captured.

_**OoOoOoO Friday, The Order Without a Name, Harry's Room. OoOoOoO**_

Harry woke up with a kink in his neck. He tried to move but something was on his arm. He looked over and got a face full of bushy hair. That told him who was laying on his arm without him even having to see Hermione. He tried to move his other arm and stopped, coming fully awake. Someone was laying on that arm as well. Now that he was awake, he could tell that there was a soft lump on his legs as well.

Harry thought back. They had come in late last night after Hermione had made a Portkey to her house and they had Flooed from there. They had sat down on the couch and Hermione had curled up under his arm, looking at him rather desperately. "I don't want to be alone tonight."

He had nodded and let her stay, even though it felt a little odd to have her there. He'd called Dobby and given Peter to Dobby, telling him to cage him until tomorrow. Dobby had nodded and disappeared with the Animagus. Pansy had slithered out of his shirt, changed and gone into her room without a word. A few minutes later, she'd rejoined them with a blanket. She'd draped the blanket over them all and curled up under his other arm without a word. She'd been asleep in minutes, leaving Harry to stare at the fire until he drifted off to sleep.

Harry tried to look at who or what was laying on his legs but he couldn't see over the girls, not that he could have seen much without his glasses anyway. He shifted slightly, causing two murmurs of protest. "Ladies," he said, trying to shift as various bits of his body informed him that while it may be every teenage boy's fantasy to sleep with two or more women, the reality was that they had cut off most of his circulation and Harry was beginning to feel the affects of it.

The bushy mass on his right shifted slightly and a pale oval came into view. Two dark spots opened and Harry had no problem realizing that Hermione was looking at him from just centimetres away. "Good morning Harry." she said sleepily.

"Good morning," he said automatically. "I hate to disturb you, but I need to get up."

"Why?" came a voice from the other side.

Harry finally figured out who was on his legs as Ginny's voice came floating up from somewhere around his stomach. "I'm comfy, and I didn't get enough sleep. You make a good pillow and I want to stay here for awhile longer."

Harry was about to reply when he heard choked laughter. He closed his eyes. "Please tell me I didn't just hear Fred and George."

More laughter was his answer and he groaned. That was Fred and George, but those giggles did not belong to any male he knew. Now that he thought about it, the room felt quite full. "Would someone hand me my glasses, please?" he requested. "If everyone is going to be looking at me, I'd like to be able to look back."

A hand came around and put his glasses on his face. Harry looked up into Tonks' smirking face. "Great." He looked around and groaned. His first thought was that there were entirely too many redheads in the room for him to be caught sleeping, however platonically, with the only redheaded female in the Weasley family.

His next thought was to wonder why they were all here, a thought he voiced aloud. "We decided that since big things were going to be happening tonight as the families left Moldywart's team, we might want to have a planning session." Remus' voice was amused. "I must say though, that in your place, I wouldn't be in a hurry to get up."

Katie giggled again as she added her bit. "All those years of playing Quidditch together, and you never let us know what a ladies' man you were. I'm hurt."

Luna was scribbling something on a parchment at the table. "Harry can't help it. He swallowed a Amoreati at some point and everyone knows they attract the opposite sex."

Hermione stirred at that, looking at Luna. "He ate a what?"

Luna looked up. "An Amoreati. Muggles call them Love Bugs."

Hermione blinked sleepily. "Oh, ok."

Harry sighed. "Ladies," he said again. "We have company, and I am the host. While this is quite nice, I think I had better get up so I can get rid of these people."

"One condition," came Pansy's voice. "We will do this again, right?"

"Say yes, Harry, or I'm not moving," said Ginny.

Hermione just sighed and gently kissed Harry on the cheek. "Please?" she said softly. Harry was almost certain that she didn't even realize that her face was perfectly placed to blow her breath in his ear, giving him yet another blood flow problem. "It was nice to be held by you."

Harry sighed and gave in. "Yes, we will do this again, as soon as we figure out how to keep circulation in my legs while we do."

The girls started moving slowly. Pansy was the first to get off him, after claiming her good morning kiss. Ginny was next and she took her time kissing him.

He was too bemused by the situation to be startled when Hermione moved up and claimed his lips as soon as Ginny was done. She didn't force anything, but her kiss was not that of a sister either. It was slow and full of promise for another day.

Harry blinked at them as they stretched and he tried to stand up. The lack of circulation in his legs made it difficult however. He nearly fell, and it was only with a great effort that he hobbled into his room hunting the loo without falling. He was about to shut the door when he heard Fred or George. "Sleeping with three women. I'm not surprised the poor boy can barely walk."

Sitting at the table eating breakfast, Harry was glad they had something to distract them from this morning's sleeping arraignments. He had a feeling that Fred and George at least would have twitted him for the rest of the morning.

He looked down the table. One side was full of redheads. The closest one was Ginny, followed by Fred, George, Bill, Ron and of all people, Percy. Beyond them were Katie and Angeline, along with Daphne and Blaise. The other side of the table had a more varied group. Hermione and Pansy were first, followed by Luna, Neville, Remus, Tonks, Shacklebolt and Wilkes. Harry had raised an eyebrow to see her here, but she'd merely waved and continued chatting with Shacklebolt.

He finished his meal and looked around. "Let's get down to business." The group stopped their individual conversations and looked at him. "Most of us know what is going to happen today, but I would like to know where the new people stand before we start planning."

Percy stood up. "I will not be here for that. I have been sent to give you a message. Ron Weasley has a thing he is doing that he cannot talk about. I am here to tell you that it will help you in what you need to do, that it will not take much of his time, only three days a week for the summer, and that it is completely legitimate."

Harry nodded as he thought about it. "Does it have anything to do with your appearance last night?"

Percy frowned. "Sort of. I am not in his area, but we work for the same people. That is all we can say about it, and I would appreciate it if that information didn't go any further than this room."

Harry nodded. "It will not."

Percy nodded and wiped his mouth with a napkin. "Mr. Potter, you set a fine table. Thank you for the meal, but I must be going."

Harry nodded, rising as Percy strode toward the Floo. "Percy," he said, "You're welcome here anytime." Percy turned and nodded slowly. He was gone a second later.

Harry looked at Wilkes. "And you?"

Amanda Wilkes shrugged. "You impressed the hell out of me last night. I don't think the Ministry has what it takes to defeat You-Know-Who, and the Order of the Phoenix is in disarray. You are our best hope and I want to help."

Harry blinked into his other sight and evaluated her. He came out of it and nodded. "Welcome to the Order."

"The Order of what, Harry?" asked Fred. "I was wondering what you were going to call your group."

Harry grinned. "I'll leave fancy names to Moldywart and the Death Wankers. I'm too busy to worry about it."

He turned serious. "Ron, are you free today?"

Ron nodded. "I'm going to be working that other thing Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The rest of the time, I'm at your disposal."

Harry nodded. "Kingsley?"

"I'm assigned to you, Harry. The Ministry has decided that you have a few too many run ins with Death Eaters not to have an Auror with you, and since we get along, I was chosen."

Harry frowned. Shacklebolt was a good man, but he was a good man. That meant he might consider it his duty to do something about some of the things he'd be seeing if he was always around.

Kingsley saw Harry's hesitation and guessed the reason for it. "I should mention that my orders specifically tell me to remain in the background and do nothing unless there are Death Eaters present." He frowned. "In fact, I think the Minister is making this more of a political thing. I have direct orders not to interfere in anything you do unless the Death Eaters are here, in sight."

Harry sighed. "I think you're right. He's still trying to get me on his side." He considered that and shrugged. "Nothing we can do about that now."

Harry sighed and turned to Hermione. "Would you keep notes please? This is likely to be a long meeting." Hermione nodded and called Dobby. She was ready a few minutes later and Harry was about to begin when Moody stepped out of the Floo.

Harry nodded and invited him to sit down. "Bill, your part is the easiest. You know the Fidelius Charm, don't you?"

Bill nodded. "Good. You'll be casting it at least once, possibly as many as five times tonight, depending on if we do the family heads together or separately."

Bill nodded, thinking about it. "Will you be the secret keeper?"

Harry grinned at him and pulled Hermione's notepad around to himself. He wrote two lines and tore that sheet off, quickly folding it. He handed it to Ginny who leaned behind the twins and handed it to Bill.

Bill opened the sheet and read it. Several times. He finally looked up at Harry. "Ok. I'll try it, and if it doesn't work, I'll have your alternate notified."

Harry nodded and ignored the curious looks he was getting from almost everyone to move on. "Moody? How did your hunt go?"

Mad-Eye grinned. "I have enough trainers to teach thirty people a day, seven days a week. All of them are good people, all with training and experience." He frowned. "Most of them have personal reasons to hate Voldemort as well."

Harry nodded. "Find a place to do the training. A group will start Monday. I'll be around on Sunday to look it over and get a quick lesson."

Moody nodded and grinned mirthlessly. "Don't think we'll be any easier on you than anyone else." he warned Harry.

Harry looked up. "I would hope not. I have to face Moldywart, and if I lose, he lives forever."

Wilkes gasped. Harry looked down at her. "Get one of the others to fill you in on everything after the meeting. I don't have time for it today." He looked around. "Kingsley, Ron you need to assemble a strike team. Assume that something has gone very wrong and you need to cover the withdrawal of innocents from the fight."

Ron frowned. "Same rules Harry? Our people come first?"

Harry nodded. "Always. Just remember that the families are mine also."

Ron sighed. "Just once, I'd like to see you do anything without complicating it."

Harry grinned and moved on. "Hermione, I need a half dozen Portkeys, taking a person to St. Mungo's in case of injuries to severe to treat on the spot." He looked at Luna. "Ron mentioned that you know a bit of healing magic."

Luna nodded. "I know a bit. I'm better with potions, as Ron can attest but I can heal."

Harry nodded. "You'll be with Ron and Shacklebolt unless you're needed. Then you and the twins will go wherever you're needed."

The twins frowned. Before they could say anything Harry spoke again. "I'm saving you as my troops of last resort, yes. You are far more valuable to me with that other project and the store in Moldywart's face than as a couple of fighters, no matter how good you are." Harry sighed. "Besides, if things get that bad, I think you'll see all the fighting you want."

By the end of the planning session, everyone had a basic idea about where they would be, what they would be doing and how to get all their wands pointed in the same direction, which is all they could do until they knew more about where they would be and how many people there would be tonight.

Around ten thirty Harry dismissed everyone to get a nap. It had been a very late night the day before and it would be another one tonight. He went and sat on the couch after everyone had found a room or a bed in a room. Some of the rooms had spare beds in them now and still some people had used the Floo to go home.

Harry was about to go find his bed when Ginny and Pansy sat down beside him and Hermione sat on his legs in much the same way as when he'd woken that morning. He was about to say something when he realized they were all staring at him and none of them looked happy.

"It came to our notice, Mr. Potter," Hermione said, "that all of your planning failed to assign any of us ladies a position or duties."

Harry smothered a grin. He'd hear them out. "And it occurs to us," said Ginny in his ear, "that maybe you simply forgot about us and needed to be reminded."

"That occurred to them," Pansy said, "I was thinking that you might try to keep us out of the battle, if one happens."

Hermione rested her hands on his belly and her chin on her hands. "Whichever it was, we decided that you deserve a chance to explain and let us know what you've got planned for us."

Harry grinned at them. "I have nothing planned for you."

All three girls began glaring at him. "Ginny, if we go out there, what are you going to do?"

"Watch over you," she said promptly.

"Hermione?"

Hermione shrugged. "What do I always do? Follow you and try to help out where I can."

"Pansy?"

"I need you, Harry, to protect my family. I'm going to be watching your back."

Harry smirked at all of them. "Now, since you're all doing things, and you know what you're going to be doing, why should I make plans for you?"

The girls considered that and Pansy smirked. "A smart man, as impossible as that sounds. He knows better than to give a woman orders."

Pansy found her head between Harry's hands and Harry in her face. "Wrong. In this we agree, because I want you around me so I can watch over all of you. However, if I tell you to do something while we're out there, you had better do it. Do you understand that?"

Pansy had tried to pull her head away but Harry held her firmly and she stopped as a familiar heat washed over her. She listened to him closely as he finished. He held her, looking her in the eye as she felt the strength in his arms and smiled. "I understand," she said, and felt the heat build a bit more. She licked her lips, focusing on Harry's lips now that he was done talking.

Hermione was watching with interest and Ginny was confused. Harry was aware of her interest and he tightened his hold for just a second, a move that made Pansy shiver. Harry frowned softly as he remembered something he'd only heard about in whispers at the park and the Muggle school. He released Pansy, seeing the flash of disappointment in her eyes.

Hermione was watching him, and the woman that had been watching him for six years knew when Harry made the connection. He took Pansy's head in his hands again and drew her down for a kiss. Pansy submitted to it happily and Ginny blinked. When he was done, Harry held Pansy until she looked at him. "You do as you're told, you get more of this. If not, you don't."

Pansy nodded happily while Ginny shook her head. She wasn't quite certain what was going on, but, "if you try something like that with me, I'll hex you into next week," she warned Harry.

Harry looked at her and smiled. He bent down and kissed her. She gladly accepted it and kissed him back. He drew away after a second and smiled at her. "You're not Pansy, and you get a different reward. Lots of kisses and a fur in front of the fireplace."

Ginny smiled. She'd mentioned to Harry once that the common room would be much better with a bearskin rug or something simular in front of the fireplace, and he'd remembered.

Hermione watched Harry and smiled. He was such a good man. She looked at Pansy, still dreamy eyed and her smile grew somewhat. She knew exactly what Pansy was. Hermione was a very logical girl and she had carefully examined all the things she liked and when she had a list, she had gone hunting for information on her likes. Including her preferences in bed.

Pansy's likes dovetailed with one of her favorite two likes perfectly, and she was looking forward to showing Harry how to get the most out of it. She became aware of Harry staring at her. "And what do you want, to follow instructions tonight?" He pulled her up and watched as she fought his grip. "Not what Pansy wants, and you've never been a snogfest person. So what does Hermione want?"

Hermione sighed and smiled, aware of the other girls watching them. "Why good sir," she said innocently, "Whatever do you mean?"

Harry watched her for a minute, searching her eyes with his. Hermione felt, for just a flicker of a second the touch of Harry's magic. Harry continued to watch her and she thought for a second that she had imagined it. "I mean," he said, leaning forward, "That I will do many things to you, some that you can only imagine." Hermione smiled as Harry stressed the word Imagine.

She knew that she had felt that flicker now, because Harry had found her favorite game. She wondered for a second if he even knew what was happening.

Harry looked at Hermione and thought he should have known she'd like imaginative games. Anything that didn't include her mind as well as her body would obviously be second rate to Hermione. He smiled as his eager imagination promptly started conjuring images for him.

He pushed those images away with difficulty and looked at the ladies. "If we're going to do this, we're going to find a different way to do it. I will need to be able to walk tonight."

Hermione looked at Harry as she thought about the problem. Three girls, one boy, far too many clothes. She pulled away from that image, knowing that Harry would not even consider sleeping in the nude with all of them yet.

She worked it out and got up "Come on. I'll show you how we'll do it for now." She led the others into Harry's room, judging he'd be more comfortable in his room. She made Ginny lay down first, with Harry spooned up behind her and Pansy spooned behind Harry. Hermione herself spooned up behind Pansy.

Ginny looked back. "But you're not next to Harry," she protested.

Hermione just smiled. "Not this time, but nothing says we have to do it the same way every time."

Ginny considered that. "Ok."

They lay there and it was Pansy that sighed happily. "I could get used to this," she said. She put an arm over Harry and Ginny, with her hand on Ginny's belly. Ginny had one of Harry's arms as a pillow and she reached down and took Pansy's hand in hers.

Hermione just wiggled up close to Pansy and whispered in her ear. "I have you good and pinned here, don't I?" Pansy wiggled for a second and Hermione put an arm over her, using Harry to hold Pansy still.

Pansy sighed. She had thought that Hermione knew what she was and this only confirmed it. Not only that, but Hermione knew how to play, unlike Harry, who had guessed what she was, but didn't know how to play the game.

The four of them drifted off to sleep, each of them happy with what they were doing, even though they hadn't removed any clothing.

_**OoOoOoO Roland D'Leander, Montague Manor, Surrey. OoOoOoO**_

Roland frowned as he approached the Manor house. This was the Montague Family seat for Merlin's sake. How did he get within thirty meters without being challenged? He was here on Snape's orders, trying to determine if any of the Windenmere families had escape plans, as the Zabinis had.

He shivered at the thought of finding an escape plan in place. He didn't think the Dark Lord would be happy about that. He was about to knock on the door when the entire house just disappeared. In fact, he found himself back on the country lane that led to the house and the grounds, but unable to find the grounds.

He swore. The Dark Lord was not going to like this.

_**OoOoOoO Peter Pettigrew, The Cage. OoOoOoO**_

Peter sighed again. He wished Harry would come along and do something, anything with him. This waiting was going to drive him insane. He looked around again. He was in a smaller cage, but he had to admit it was a nice cage. He had food and water and even a nice exercise wheel. He also had several large clumps of bedding and a private corner to do his business.

Peter sighed again, and walked around the cage looking for a weak spot. He hadn't found one the first thirty times, but hey, it wasn't like he had anything else to do. After he was done and still hadn't found a weak spot, he began considering making one.

The cage was made of metal, so he couldn't bite a hole in it. Magic was out of the question while in this shape. That left one option and Peter quivered as he started to change.

"Dobby would not be doing that, if Dobby was ratman. Rat is small and fits in cage. Man is big and does not fit. Cage will not break ever. Ratman be big mess to clean up if he makes the change."

Peter sighed again and stopped changing. The House Elf might be wrong, but Peter was not yet so desperate that he'd try it. Yet.

He frowned and curled up to try and get some more sleep. It made the time go by faster.

"_Harry, please come do something to me."_

_**OoOoOoO Mr. Blount, Somewhere in Scotland. OoOoOoO**_

Mr. Blount looked up as another owl flew in the window. His great grand daughter retrieved the message and looked up. "The Montague family is under the Fidelius."

He nodded, smiling at her. They were disappearing a lot earlier than they had planned on, but a little bird had warned them that Snape was asking pointed questions about escape plans, which made waiting a risk they were unwilling to take. Snape and his two assistants were all quite willing to rip the information out of your head, even if it killed you.

Since Mr. Blount had certain protections that no one else had, he was waiting for Potter's team to come so he could tell them about the changes that they had made. He grimaced. He'd seen three Dark Lords in his life, and he hoped that this would be the last one.

He looked up as a rush of air announced the arrival of a Portkey and he watched as Potter and four women appeared, followed closely by a mass of redheads using a Portkey and another Portkey with a more varied group. He nodded approvingly. They had not all travelled together, nor appeared so close together as to present a single target. They were close enough to watch each other though, and to cover each other.

Mr. Potter got up from where he landed and took a minute to look around. He couldn't see the people appearing in the meadow they had chosen for their rendezvous, as they were all under their family's own Fidelius Charm, but then again, this was Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. Maybe he could see them.

Harry looked at him and walked over to join him. "I thought you were going to wait until dark," he said mildly.

"We were, but Snape and his mindsuckers are hunting for escape plans after the last few days, and we couldn't take chances with the families."

Harry smirked. "I don't know who his 'mindsuckers' are, but Hermione captured Snape last night." He frowned as he thought about something. Damn it, he'd forgotten about Peter. Well, Dobby had him caged, so Wormtail would be there when Harry got back. Harry pushed the rat out of his mind as he looked around.

Mr. Blount was looking at Hermione. "You captured Snape? More to you than meets the eyes, girl."

Miranda looked over at him. "She is adequate. Not at Mr. Potter's level, but she is acceptable."

Mr. Blount raised an eyebrow. "How would you rate Mr. Potter?" he asked her curiously. To get an 'adequate' from a Defender was high praise indeed, and he wanted to know what she thought of Harry.

Miranda shrugged. "I have not yet been in battle with him, but Headmaster Dumbledore's Phoenix will fight with him and he slew a twenty meter basilisk with a sword at twelve. I could have made a Defender out of him then. Now, he's too old."

Mr. Blount blinked. From a Defender, there was no higher praise. He raised his estimate of Harry. "We're waiting on one more owl, and then all the families will have reported in and will be ready for the Fidelius charm. Who will be casting the spell for you, Mr. Potter?"

Harry motioned at the mass of redheads outside. "Bill Weasley, a Curse Breaker for Gringotts is going to do it. We need to know if you want it done separately, or if it should be done as a single charm."

Mr Blount frowned. "If he can cast it more than once, separately. That way, a single incident doesn't expose everyone."

Harry nodded. "I understand." He looked at Ginny. "Would you tell Bill what they want, please?"

Ginny nodded and walked over to Bill. They talked for a minute and Bill looked around. The meadow appeared to be empty and he chose a small grove to the north to cast the spell. Bill, Charlie and Ron walked over there as Ginny came back to Harry to tell them that Bill would be ready in about ten minutes.

Harry nodded, still looking out over the meadow. "How many people are out there?" Harry couldn't see the people but he could feel something, and the new glasses were clear enough that he could see whole sections of the meadow grass being crushed. That implied people on top of the grass.

Harry filed the knowledge that the Fidelius Charm didn't hide the results of your actions from the people who might be watching away for later. He wasn't going to say anything about it, but he could not figure out why Moldywart wasn't making more use of the charm himself. It must be a vanity thing.

Ron came up then, telling Harry that Bill was ready for the first family Head to be protected. Mr. Blount sent his assistant after Mr. Rimaldi.

Harry nodded. With the Dark Mark, he was in the greatest danger of being found, and the sooner he was under the Fidelius, the better.

Ron was frowning at the meadow and Harry looked at him. "What's the problem, Ron?"

"There are innocent bystanders out there Harry, and if something happens, I have no way of knowing where they are and if they're in the way." Ron looked over at his strike team, who were also watching the meadow and talking in low tones. "How can we protect people we can't even find?"

"They know what to do if something happens, Mr. Weasley. Everyone out there has their instructions." Mr. Blount looked at Ron's dubious look and sighed. He would have to be a bit more specific than that. "Those that can, will Apparate to a secondary escape point, taking as many as they can with Side-Along Apparation. The rest have Portkeys to take the younger ones away, as well as those that cannot Apparate. Everyone should be gone in five minutes or less."

Ron and Shacklebolt looked at each other. That would make their job easier. They went over to the people they had for their team and Harry was bemused to see that there were some of the people from the Burrow last night. He crossed over to Fred and George. "Lee told me last night to ask you about where these people came from."

Fred and George shrugged. "We don't have any more faith in the Ministry than you do, Harry," said Fred. "We decided that if something was to be done, we'd have to do it, as you're stuck in Hogwarts most of the year and can't help us in Diagon Alley."

George nodded. "After trying to get the Order to do something, we realized that they wouldn't do anything without Professor Dumbledore's approval, and he was not willing to approve anything that looked like an escalation in the fighting."

Fred took up. "We understand that he was trying to keep the fighting to a minimum, but that wouldn't help us. So, we took a page from you and started a group, mostly our friends, who were willing to do something."

Harry nodded. "How much training have you gotten?"

Fred sighed. "Not as much as we want," he admitted. "It's a bit harder to find trainers and have the time to train when you have to hold down a job to support yourself."

Harry thought about that for a minute. "Get with me this week, and we'll see if we can't help out on that. I can think of a couple of things, and we'll try and get you some time with Moody's people."

Fred and George nodded. "Monday, after we close the store?" George suggested.

Hermione frowned. "Tuesday would be better," she said. "Harry has a number of things he's doing Monday."

Harry smiled at Hermione. "Are you my appointment secretary now?"

Hermione glared at him. "I am acting as your personal assistant, Mr. Potter. I don't do secretary."

Harry raised his hands. "OK, I give." He looked at Fred and George. "Tuesday night then."

Harry was about to say something else when an Apparation crack turned all their heads. Mr. Sharpstar stood there with Mr. Weasley. He saw Harry and came to meet him. "Good afternoon, Mr. Potter. I have a few more papers for you to sign and a few letters from various people that have been delivered to me, since normal owls can't seem to find you."

Harry was about to say something, when he remembered something. He reached into his robes and found the letter the cloaked Witch had given him. "Fred, I got this under suspicious circumstances. Check it for anything harmful, will you?"

Fred took it and looked at the ornate writing. "It's from a Pureblood Witch," he said. "The script and ink color tell me that. It's an old family as well, they're the only ones that use Formal English for letters anymore."

The twins started muttering things over the letter as Harry turned to Mr. Sharpstar. "I'm sorry about that, but you reminded me of that letter, and I wanted to deal with it before I forgot it again."

Mr. Sharpstar nodded before handing Harry a sheaf of papers. "The final few acceptances for the refugees. Total, you have fifty two people in your families now. The Black family, despite being the oldest of the three, got only eleven new people, and the Tonks accepted your invitation, so you have three Tonks' as well."

He looked at the paper he had kept. "With all of Mr. Zabini's sisters staying with him, the Montague family had the largest group, with twenty-six people, leaving the final thirteen in the Potters." He smiled at Harry. "Including one little girl who tells me to tell you that she always has a kiss when you need it."

Harry blushed. "Tell Miss Potter that I will remember that,and thank her for me."

Mr. Sharpstar nodded. "I also have some new business for you. The Montague Estate was empty, and I assumed you might want it, so it was purchased and the families are hiding there, until we can sort them out and find places for them all. At the latest, that will be on your birthday, when you can access the Black and Potter family properties."

He frowned. "On that note, the house ghosts at the Montague Manor are insistent that you come out and meet them. The most they will say is that they have some information that the Head of Family must know."

Harry sighed and looked at Hermione. She nodded. "Tell them Harry has already planned to meet with his families on Monday, and since they're all out there, he can talk to the ghosts then."

Mr. Sharpstar nodded and made a note on a scrap of parchment. "Other new business, here is your mail, and there are no curses on it, or unknown magic. The Gringotts letters and the Wizengamot letter both have magic, but it's standard privacy magic to prevent anyone but you from opening it."

Harry accepted the stack of letters and leafed through them. Three letters from Gringotts, one addressed to each of his family names, one from the Wizengamot, and several from the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly. It was the last two letters that left him blinking and stunned.

The first was from Victor Krum and the last one was from Bellatrix Lestrange. He handed the others to Hermione and opened Victor's letter first, putting off Bella's letter.

"_Mr. Potter,_

_I have no doubts that you remember me from the tournament in your fourth year. While I do not live in England, nor am I particularly interested in your country's internal disputes, I have recently become aware that your Dark Lord is attempting to recruit people in my country._

_While the thought of our Dark Wizards leaving the country is a good one, I feel that it would be only right to inform you of this. In particular, he has recruited a man named Ivan Gorchakov, a Russian born Wizard who is a paid duellist. He has killed several times, always on the Duelling field._

_I have told you what I know, and hope that you will use it to your profit. If your people do not stop this Dark Lord, he could very well become a problem for us, and I do not wish to stop playing Quidditch to fight. It just doesn't pay as well._

_Victor Krum."_

Harry frowned and looked for Miranda. He handed her the note and watched her read it. She frowned and looked at him. "I know of Mr. Gorchakov, but despite being a paid killer, he has always followed the rules. He will only fight under the cover of the laws regarding Duelling."

She frowned. "Maybe they're hoping to get you on the Duelling grounds with him. He does have a great deal of skill, and you don't even know the rules."

Harry sighed. "Another thing to worry about is not what I need right now." He looked up. "Pansy, would you make sure everyone knows about this? I don't want anyone getting caught up in some plot to trap me into a duel."

Pansy nodded and started toward Ron and Shacklebolt. Harry looked at the last letter. He looked at the return address again. All it said was: Bellatrix Lestrange. He opened it, knowing that Bella would never trap a letter. Her madness would insist that she be there to gloat. Inside the envelope was another smaller letter and a sheet of paper.

Harry raised an eyebrow to see Miranda's name on the second letter, and he handed it to her. Miranda looked at it and blinked. Both of them started reading their letters.

"_Mr. Potter,_

_I understand that you might be somewhat startled to be receiving a letter from me, but I find myself in a bit of a puzzle. Soon, I will engage in a duel to the death. Custom dictates that I have a second there and I cannot be certain that any of my current associates would act in an honorable way if I were to look as if I was in trouble, or even losing._

_You are the most honorable person I know, and yet your use of a certain curse in the ministry leads me to believe that you would abide by the rules of a death duel, despite the illegality of such a duel._

_In short, Mr. Potter, I am asking that you be my second at the duel._

_An owl addressed to Bella Berlon will reach me with only minor delays._

_Bellatrix Lestrange."_

Harry stared at the letter in disbelief. He had known that Bellatrix was insane, but this went far beyond mere insanity.

He handed the letter to Hermione without a word and looked at Miranda. Miranda had the impassive mask that Harry was beginning to think of as her Defender face. She looked at Harry. "I was going to ask you to be my second, but it seems Bellatrix beat me to it." She frowned for a second, while Harry absorbed the fact that Bellatrix and Miranda would be in a duel to the death. "I suppose Miss Weasley would be a good second."

"I accept," said Ginny, looking at Miranda, "provided you give me a couple of classes in what I need to do."

Miranda grinned at Harry. "Not much, if Harry accepts her request. The two seconds in a death duel are there to witness only, so that each side has a witness they trust to tell them if it was a fair duel. Other than that, you simply make sure that the other second doesn't interfere in the duel."

Harry growled and his magic flared slightly. "So, I almost have to agree to this, or leave Ginny facing a Death Eater alone."

Miranda nodded slowly. "I think you're right. Bellatrix can't just ask anyone, most people are scared spitless of her."

Harry frowned. "Hermione, would you find a parchment and a quill, please? I might as well use her owl to send my acceptance."

He looked at Miranda, considering her. "Can you beat her?"

Miranda sighed. "I don't know. This is about that very thing, Mr. Potter. Bellatrix Lestrange is a legend. For years, she has been the most dangerous female alive, equalled only by Voldemort, Professor Dumbledore and now, you. Beating her would prove my skills in a way that can not be disputed, especially if it was in a duel to the death and one on one."

Harry was thinking about that when Dobby popped up. "Harry Potter Sir, Mr. Rimaldi would like to talk to you."

As Dobby spoke, Mr. Rimaldi appeared, standing next to Dobby. He was furious and glaring at Harry. "How dare you insult my Family like this!" he said as Harry looked at him. "Putting us in the hands of a House Elf!"

Harry just stared at him. "Sir, before you say something rash, allow me to show you something." Harry turned to Dobby. "Dobby, come here." Harry knelt, so that he was looking Dobby in the eyes. "Dobby, you know what you are now, don't you?"

Dobby nodded. "I is Harry Potter Sir's House Elf, and a keeper of his secrets. Dobby is most happy to be Harry Potter Sir's House Elf."

Harry nodded. "Dobby, listen to me. The Secret you hold, must not be known to anyone, not even Winky, unless I tell you to your face to tell someone. You are ordered to use any means to protect that secret, just as you would me. Do you understand that?"

Dobby looked at Harry, and for once, there was something like intelligence in his eyes. "Harry Potter Sir can always trust Dobby. I am your House Elf, Harry Potter Sir."

Harry smiled at Dobby. "I knew I could count on you, Dobby. Thank you."

Harry stood up and turned to Mr. Rimaldi. "Sir, I needed a Secret Keeper who was unfailingly honest, completely loyal and strong enough to defend himself if someone did figure out who he was. Dobby is all of that. I have seen him knock Lucius Malfoy on his ass, and Malfoy didn't do anything about it. As for the rest, Dobby is my House Elf, and completely loyal to me. Name a better Secret Keeper, keeping in mind, that the only other time I know of this charm being used, a close friend of the family involved turned on them, after eight years of friendship."

Mr. Rimaldi was still angry, but they could see him thinking about it, and then Harry smirked, adding another thought. "Besides, which of your former associates would even consider this idea?"

Mr. Rimaldi blinked as he considered that. He looked at Harry with a new gleam in his eye. "There's more to it than just that, though, isn't there?"

Harry grinned and opened his robe. "I've had this a while, but yes, there is more."

Mr. Rimaldi caught the small crude button Harry tossed him. He read it and raised an eyebrow. "S.P.E.W.?" he said, saying it as a word.

Hermione blushed as Harry and Ron looked at her with smiles. "I was young. I think I could do a bit better now."

Harry shrugged. "I don't really care what you call it, but I am going to stuff the unreasoning bias' of the Wizard world down their throats. Dobby has a soul, is a reasoning being, and a good person, yet he's treated as less than a Death Eater, simply because he's not human. It's time for that to stop."

Hermione sighed happily. Harry grinned at her. "I never disagreed with your goals, Hermione, just the means. We'll have to change the attitudes before the treatment will change."

Hermione blushed. "I know that now, Harry, but I was eleven."

Mr. Rimaldi sighed. "Mr. Potter, you do realize that changing the Wizard opinions about this will be harder than defeating the Dark Lord."

Harry shrugged. "I will do it though. Wizards live a very long time and after I've gotten rid of Moldywart, I don't have anything else to do."

Mr. Rimaldi rolled his eyes. "Great, yet another crusader. That's for the future though, Mr. Potter. Right now, I'm going to take the families home. We'll sort out the volunteers and be back to you on Wednesday."

He started to walk away and stopped. "I would be careful about standing still when Mrs. Warrington finds out what you're doing. She's a bit old fashioned, and in her youth she was a great duellist." He smirked suddenly. "And before you ask, no, I'm not going to warn them. They should have the same fun of finding out that I did."

He walked away and Harry noted that there were two trails being made in the grass close to him. He'd brought back up then, or was being followed. Given the paranoid nature of the families, Harry assumed the first.

Harry looked at Mr. Blount. "Do you have anything to say about my Secret Keeper, Sir?"

Mr. Blount frowned. "I wouldn't, except for one thing. I have heard the name Dobby, in gossip. Is he truly a free House Elf?"

Harry nodded. "The highest paid House Elf in the world in fact."

Mr. Blount nodded. "How do you know someone won't hire him away from you, and become his new master?"

His answer came from Dobby, not Harry. "Harry Potter Sir pays Dobby because Harry Potter Sir is great Wizard, greatest Wizard alive. But he does not need to. Dobby would work for Harry Potter Sir for free. Harry Potter Sir does not mind that Dobby is not like other House Elfs. Harry Potter Sir treats Dobby like person and trusts Dobby. Dobby is Harry Potter Sir's House Elf always."

Harry smiled at Dobby. "Any other questions, Sir?"

Mr. Blount was looking at Harry thoughtfully. The House Elf was insane, but he was also fixated on Harry. Mr. Blount wanted to ask how Harry had created such loyalty, but looking at Harry, he knew that Harry didn't even understand how unusual his House Elf was. "Not at this time, Mr. Potter."

Hermione was also staring at Dobby thoughtfully. She was beginning to realize that Dobby was changing. She thought about what Harry had told them about Dobby and compared that to what she was seeing today. The beginning of an idea was stirring in her head, but she had to test it before she'd say anything. She was not going to give Harry wrong information. She did have a reputation after all.

The rest of the charms went smoothly, with Harry having to explain Dobby to the other Family heads as well. Mr. Parkinson was more irate with Pansy than Harry. "I thought you said there was nothing wrong with his choice."

Pansy shrugged, avoiding his eyes. "From Harry's point of view, there isn't. Dobby is everything Harry said he was."

Mr. Parkinson glared at them both. "I was expecting someone human at least."

Harry looked at him. "Sir, with all due respect, Dobby is far more human than the people you're trying to escape from. He understands compassion, loyalty and trust, which is more than you can say for Moldywart."

Mr. Parkinson sighed. "In the future, Mr. Potter, would you please refrain from surprises like this? They're bad for my heart and our agreement." With that veiled threat, he left to begin sorting his family out and taking them home

Harry was talking to Ginny when he suddenly felt a cold wind down his back and ducked, dragging Ginny with him. A Curse shot by their heads, missing by mere inches as they fell. Miranda pulled Hermione behind her, putting herself between her charge and the direction the curse had come from.

Harry rolled over and jumped to his feet, barely avoiding a second curse. "Dobby!"

"Harry Potter Sir, Mrs. Warrington is angry, Harry Potter Sir!" As Dobby spoke, she faded into view and Harry dove aside to avoid the next curse.

"You ignorant little worm! I will strip the skin from your bones for this insult!" She raised her wand to throw another curse, but now that they could see her, Ron's team had a target. Multiple Apparation cracks sounded and Mrs Warrington found herself surrounded by many wands, held by people that did not look happy.

"Mrs. Warrington," Harry said, pushing through the group to face her. "No insult was meant or intended."

"Mr. Potter, you are either a lying bastard or stupid on a level that exceeds belief."

Harry frowned and the first touch of his magic began. "I will accept a lot, but you had better explain yourself, Ma'am."

She stared at him and suddenly deflated. "You truly don't know, do you?" she said in a wondering voice. "You have read the Potter family books, haven't you?"

Harry blinked. "We have books?"

Mrs Warrington stared at him in shock. "Mr. Potter, all of the old families have the family histories recorded. Their children are read to out of them, learn to read with them and have to read all of them at least once before starting whatever magical school they go to. It is a custom that dates back before recorded history." She stared at him again. "You've never read them?"

Harry shrugged. "Until now, I've never heard of them."

Mrs Warrington hissed in dismay. "You must find those books, Mr. Potter. You are responsible for a dozen agreements between the Potters and other families, dating back at least four centuries. How will you know what to do without the instructions in those books?"

Harry groaned. "Agreements? With who? How many are there? And what do they want me to do?"

Mrs. Warrington frowned "I can only answer that for the one between your family and mine, and I will not do that in front of witnesses not in our families."

Harry sighed as he felt the beginning of a major headache coming on. He rubbed his temples as he thought. "Mrs. Warrington, I knew nothing of this. The choice of Dobby as Secret Keeper was made strictly on his merits, with no other reasons that did not have to do with Dobby himself. If in doing so, I have truly offended you, I apologize."

Mrs. Warrington put her wand away. "I will accept that it was unintentional, but it happened. I must ask you to break the Fidelius and do it again, with a different Secret Keeper, one that is mutually agreeable to both of us."

Harry frowned and looked around. "Bill, are you up for breaking it, and casting the charm one more time?"

Bill sighed. "Give me about fifteen minutes and I will be."

Harry looked at Ginny. "Is Miss Weasley acceptable to you?"

Mrs. Warring ton frowned. "I would prefer a Witch who is of age, Mr. Potter, and one who is quite good at Defense."

Harry grinned but before he could say anything, Miranda spoke. "I cannot, Mr. Potter. It would conflict with my charge."

Harry sighed. "Pity. You fit her description quite well."

Harry looked around. His eyes fell on Auror Wilkes and she sighed. "I knew you'd get around to me."

"Will you do it?"

Mrs. Warrington frowned. "Who are you?" she asked.

"I am Auror Amanda Wilkes, of the Penhold Family." Amanda said calmly.

Mrs Warrington considered that for a minute. "Your mother was Arabella Drake, wasn't she? Of the Drake-Penhold alliance marriage."

Amanda nodded. Mrs. Warrington turned to Harry. "She is acceptable."

Harry nodded. "Bill, would you take care of this, please? We'd all like to go home sometime today."

As the three of them walked away, Harry had one more thing to say. "Mrs. Warrington, we will be discussing this later. I want to know why you attacked me like that. I hope you have a very good reason."

She studied him. "It is good enough for me, Mr. Potter." She frowned, looking at the people around Harry. "I will be waiting for you, but you should really find the Potter histories. Then you would not have to ask."

Harry looked at Pansy. "I think we're going to sit down and have a long conversation about the old families and their customs before something I should know but don't bites me."

Pansy nodded. " I agree, although I don't know anything about why she was so upset either." She frowned. "There was an agreement between our families, but it was finished about three hundred years ago, and I never thought about what the Potters might be still involved in." She shook her head. "I keep thinking of you as your mother's son, a Muggleborn, raised by Muggles, and forgetting that you are your father's son as well, with a history in the Wizard world that is actually longer than ours."

Hermione looked up. "Just how old is the Potter family?"

Pansy shrugged. "I don't know. It would not surprise me to learn that there was a Potter in the first class at Hogwarts though."

Harry blinked. He looked around and smiled at Ginny. "I have a little project for you." He frowned. "Even if it means you're going to actually have to go to work to get it done."

Dobby and Amanda appeared, and Dobby looked at Harry. "Mrs. Warrington is much calmer this time."

As she faded into view Harry smiled. "I can tell. I'm not ducking curses." He looked at her. "Just out of curiosity, what was the multi-coloured one? I didn't recognize it."

Mrs. Warrington thought for a second. "It's called Muddle and is a mid level hex, designed to confuse an opponent by mixing up his senses. You see smells, hear colours, that sort of thing."

Harry blinked. "That would make fighting hard. Would you mind teaching that spell to a few of us?"

"Not at all. Although, I would like to know how you managed to duck a curse from someone you could not detect." Mrs. Warrington looked at Harry.

Harry scratched his head. "I'm not sure," he confessed, thinking about it. "I just felt something like a cold wind, and every time I've felt that before, something bad was happening."

"Useful talent," Mrs. Warrington said dryly, "for someone that gets in as many fights as you do, Mr. Potter." She turned and Disapparated, going to join her family in hiding.

Bill came up, yawning. "I never knew how draining that spell is. I'm going home to sleep for a day or two."

"Thank you, Bill," said Harry, studying him. "Are you safe to Apparate? You look tired."

Bill yawned again. "Probably not," he admitted, "but I have a Portkey, and Fleur is waiting with a meal." He smiled. "She is beginning to understand just what it takes to be a Curse Breaker's wife."

With that, he pulled a small flat stone from his pocket and disappeared. Harry frowned as he watched the spot where he had been. Something about Portkeys was in the back of his head.

"Harry, we're done here. Can I release the rest of them to go home?" Ron was watching Harry.

Harry looked up, still trying to pin down the thought. "Go ahead. Make sure they have a way to be contacted. I don't know when they'll be needed, but the twins and I are working on getting them some training as well."

Ron sighed. "That would be good. Some of them aren't as good as the DA. They need some serious help." He turned to go back and Harry went back to thinking about Portkeys.

He stiffened suddenly as the idea came to him. "Hermione, I need a bit of research from you please."

Hermione smiled. "My speciality. What am I looking up now?"

Harry took her to the side and murmured to her for a minute. They watched her face as her expression changed, from surprised, to intrigued to determined. Ginny grinned as she spoke to the few people left. "Harry told her what he's thinking of, and what he wants. Surprise, that she didn't think of it. Now, Harry is explaining how he thinks it can help, in case she can find a flaw in his idea, that's the intrigue there, and finally, the look of Hermione On The Hunt."

Ron snorted. "That's a look I know well."

Miranda sighed. "I hope this hunt doesn't take us back to Knockturn Alley. I am appalled that she went there alone. I was not happy to be in some of those shops, but she didn't care, as long as they let her look at the books."

Ron laughed. "Harry takes risks to save people, Hermione just wants to know everything. Get used to it." He smiled at his two best friends. "They'll never change."

Harry and Hermione rejoined the group, and Harry looked at them. "What is everyone smiling about?"

Ginny just stepped up and burrowed under his arm. "Come on, Harry. Let's go home."

Harry grinned. "One minute. I have an owl to send first." Pansy sighed. Harry looked at Luna. "May I have the owl, please?"

Luna nodded and handed an owl to Harry. It was an average looking owl with a peculiar gleam in its eyes. It had a charm laid on it, that would allow it to find Lord Voldemort. Harry dug a package out of his robes and a letter, which he had written personally. He tied them to the owl and looked at the owl. "Take these, and then leave instantly. It will not be safe there shortly."

The owl stared at him for a few seconds and bobbed its head, hooting softly before flying into the gathering dusk. It was barely away when the second part of the charm kicked in and the owl disappeared from view. Harry used his new glasses to pierce the invisibility charm and watched the owl until it disappeared from sight.

He turned to the others and smiled. "Let's go home."

Shortly, the meadow was quiet and empty of human life.

_**OoOoOoO Saturday morning, Harry's Room. OoOoOoO**_

Harry woke up slowly, aware that someone was entering the room. He looked up and the person came close enough for him to identify Ginny by the mass of red hair spilling down her back. She crawled into bed behind Hermione and snuggled close to them. "Good morning Harry,"

Harry sighed, trying not to think about Pansy's warm softness spooned up in front of him, or Hermione's female bits pressing into his back. "Good morning Ginny." He felt her hand come over Hermione and come to rest on his stomach.

Harry laid there, listening to the three girls breathe. He smiled to himself. He was living every adolescent boy's fantasy, and he was male enough to admit he liked it.

He frowned as reality intruded. Pansy was with him because Moldywart wanted to destroy everything Harry liked about the Wizard world. Ginny loved him, and surprised as he had been to find it, Hermione did as well. But before he would be truly free to love any of them back, he had to deal with a certain snake faced dark lord that wouldn't leave him alone.

Harry began thinking again about the plans he had working, and the plans he wanted to make happen. He had the core of a group he could trust. He had a pool of people to draw from, for tasks of a less dangerous nature, and all he needed for personnel now were trained fighters.

He set aside the people problems, and started thinking about the public. The Wizard world allowed the Daily Prophet to set their opinions, and changed them with every new article in the paper. Since the current ownership of the Prophet was either Death Eater friendly, or outright supporting Moldywart, Harry had to do something about that. He would use the Quibbler if he had to, but he would prefer to neutralize the Prophet entirely.

Harry smirked to himself as he thought about something Pansy had said. He needed to hit the Death Wankers in ways they were not expecting, and Pansy had offered up an idea that Harry had not considered. It was not going to be an instant thing, requiring some ground work laid in the Wizengamot, but Harry would get Mr. Sharpstar started on it right away.

Fred and George were working on that other thing for him and Harry grinned. If they could do it, he was going to have a great deal of fun playing with that. He'd have to wait and see if they could do it though, so he moved on.

With the Families behind him, he controlled a great deal of the Wizengamot now, and it was time to start working on that. There were a couple of law changes he wanted to make, and a couple of new laws that would have to be slipped in carefully. Most important, he wanted to start having Death Wankers treated like dangerous animals. Treating them like the Wizards treated werewolves right now would be a good start.

"You're brooding again Harry." Hermione's sleepy voice came from behind him. He turned carefully, getting his glasses from the small cubicle in the headboard that Dobby had put there. He smiled as Hermione's face came into focus. "What are you brooding about now?"

Harry sighed and started to get up, only to have Hermione hold him. "You can tell me right here."

Harry started with the idea Pansy had suggested, laying it out for Hermione. He went into the things he wanted in the Wizengamot, vaguely aware that Ginny and Pansy had woken up and were listening as well.

The four of them spent an hour talking quietly about Harry's plans, each of the girls offering ideas of their own.

Harry listened, offering changes to some ideas, turning down some and accepting others. Hermione's ideas were logical, straight forward and designed to hurt the enemy in ways they wouldn't be able to do anything about.

Ginny's plans were more involved with carrying the battle to the Death Eaters, more physical.

Pansy had several ideas like Hermione's, and a couple like Ginny's, but hers always came with a twist, designed to hit the opposition in veering, twisting ways that they wouldn't be expecting.

Harry listened as the three of them began offering their views and ideas to changing each other's plans. He'd never tried to work with so many different personalities, and watching what they could do as they plotted together brought home what the Sorting Hat had been saying.

Hogwarts had to find a way to bring the Houses together. These three girls were doing it, and that meant it could be done.

Someone knocked on the door and Harry told them to come in absently, as he listened to Hermione outline the plan the three girls had decided on.

When nothing was said by whoever came in, Harry looked up. Miranda, Luna, Remus and Ron were standing in the door. Miranda was wearing her Defender face, but the corner of her mouth was twitching. Luna was staring, looking at them the same as always.

Remus was smirking broadly, half turned to examine the Quidditch poster on the wall.

Ron was turned completely around, and the back of his neck was redder than his hair.

"We were wondering," Remus said in a voice thick with suppressed laughter, "if you were going to get up today and do anything. I see that you decided to have your first council of war privately." He coughed. "I can see why though. Order meetings are never like this."

Luna cocked her head. "Is that going to be the uniform for the meetings of the Order Without a Name, Harry?"

Miranda merely raised one eyebrow. "I hope not. There are some people that should not be exposed like that."

Harry frowned, looking at his bed partners, really looking at them for the first time this morning. It had been a warm night so they had simply slept on top of the blankets when they came in last night after dropping Ginny off at Longbottom Estate.

Harry hadn't even thought about it, being tired and used to the girls disrobing in front of him, but Hermione and Pansy were only wearing knickers. Small skimpy knickers at that. He craned his neck to look at Ginny, who was wearing the same thing, but had also added a bra.

She blushed as he looked at her. "I'm not quite as."

Harry interrupted her. "I understand, believe me." Harry was wearing his pajama bottoms, despite Pansy's request last night that he wear the boxers she bought for him. Harry was not that comfortable with disrobing in front of the girls yet.

"If everyone is done gawking, get out. We'll join you shortly." Pansy stood up and faced the group at the door. "Unless you want to watch us get dressed?"

Ron was already headed out and Miranda followed him. Remus snickered. "As interesting as that might be, you're all a bit young for me, and Tonks would be annoyed." He followed Ron out the door.

Luna stood there a second longer, looking at Pansy. "Don't do anything to hurt Harry. He is very important to us all." With that, she wandered out the door.

The four people left in the room looked at each other. Harry laid back on the bed and sighed. "I'm going to hear about this from Ron," he predicted.

Ginny was about to say something when Hermione spoke absently. "If he starts to say anything to you, tell him that I have not forgotten. Just say that, and nothing else."

Pansy blinked at Hermione. "What haven't you forgotten?"

Hermione sat up and straddled Harry, taking a second to smirk at Pansy. "Anything since fourth year, I think." She looked at Harry and bent down, kissing him softly until he responded, and then becoming more demanding.

When she was done Harry blinked. Pansy let him set the pace when they kissed, and Ginny was soft and loving with her kisses, but Hermione was firm, demanding and controlling. Harry didn't have any time to think about it though, as Ginny pulled his head to the side to claim her morning kiss and he was vaguely aware that Pansy was waiting for Ginny to finish. By the time the three of them were finished with Harry, he had a very silly smile on his face.

The girls started dressing and Harry went into his bathroom to dress. When he was gone, Pansy looked at Hermione. "I told you he'd go for it."

Hermione smiled. "I always hoped that I could do this with Harry, but I never saw any way to break him out of the "Best friend" role he'd put me in." A shadow crossed her face. "Plus, I would rather have been his best friend forever rather than risk losing his friendship."

Ginny nodded. "I think Harry is just that way. You really have to be his friend before he thinks of you in any way." She made a face. "But, he always has a hard time changing the way he sees you, once he decides you're in a category. It took him five years to stop seeing me as Ron's little sister."

Pansy smiled. "I am so glad I didn't have to wait five years. I'd have hexed him long before that."

The girls were done getting dressed and waiting for Harry when the bathroom door opened. Harry stepped out to find all the girls looking at him. Harry looked at them and then down at himself. "What? Do I have my shirt on inside out?"

Hermione sighed. "No, Harry, but we really have to talk about your penchant for black." Harry was dressed in black slacks and a black turtleneck.

Pansy sighed. "And when we're done with that, we're going to have a talk with Hermione about using words like 'penchant' in everyday conversation."

The four of them went into the main room. Ron, Remus, Luna, Neville, Miranda and Auror Wilkes were eating breakfast at the table. The four of them joined the others.

Good mornings were said and Harry and the girls started eating. Harry looked up after a minute. "What have we got planned today?"

Hermione thought for a second. "Not much. We have to go into London to do the final fittings on your suits, Mr. Sharpstar has some things for you to look at, and I assume you want to ask him about the Potter histories."

Harry nodded. "Definitely. If I am bound by some kind of contracts, I want to know what they are."

Hermione nodded. "Other than that, we don't have anything planned."

Harry nodded. "Then we need to go see Luna's father and talk to him about using the Quibbler, and how we're going to protect it. Then, we need to stop by Diagon Alley, so I can buy a Comet."

Ron stared at Harry. "Why do you need a Comet, Harry? You're got a Firebolt."

Harry shrugged. "I have a gift, from a man who died. I can't replace that, like my Nimbus was replaced, so I'm going to retire it. Since I own the Comet Broomstick Co., I thought I should buy one."

Harry looked up at the silence. Except for Hermione and Pansy, no one else had known that Harry owned a Broomstick company, and they were all staring at him.

Ron sighed. "Harry, if you didn't have insane relatives, a dark lord after you and a habit of ending up in the hospital wing regularly, I could hate you easily."

Remus blinked. "I had forgotten about that. James never really talked about the Potter family business, and we assumed that like most of the old money families, the Potter fortune was tied up in real estate."

Harry smiled wryly. "No, Sirius left me enough problems in that area."

Remus looked confused for a second and then nodded. "I remember Sirius saying something about his family owning the wrong bit of land."

Pansy choked on her orange juice. "If owning Knockturn Alley can be dismissed that easily."

Hermione blinked as a thought struck her. "Harry, I want to see that list of properties again. Maybe a threat to have the rent raised will get me into the darker books." She looked at the glances everyone was giving her. "I'm looking for information on Inferi and Horcruxes. Do you think they sell those kinds of books in Flourish and Botts?"

Miranda sighed. "The rules haven't changed, Miss Black."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "After seeing what you do, I am not going to argue with you about it."

The rest of the breakfast conversation was lighter, as people made an effort to relax. When they were done Harry looked at the rest. "Ron, you, Luna, Neville and Auror Wilkes can do what ever today, but make sure you get in touch with all of our people. Tomorrow I want everyone available, in case Moldywart attacks."

The group thought about the gift Harry had sent to Voldemort and collectively shook their heads.

_**OoOoOoO Somewhere in England, Voldemort. OoOoOoO**_

Voldemort was certain of it now, Wormtail had been captured. He would never have gone this long without checking in on his own. He sent a Death Eater after his people and thought. The last week had been a series of blows. First Potter stole most of the younger people, and then he stole nearly a third of Voldemort's followers. The reports of that debacle were still coming in.

Voldemort looked at the Quibbler. If he ever found the premises that paper was published on, he would tear it to the ground and salt the earth.

He was distracted then, as an owl came in the room. He recognized the charm that he had taught the Death Eaters so they could send him owls and allowed it to land. He took the package it carried and was not surprised when it left as soon as the package was untied. Birds and other natural creatures didn't like to be around him anymore, not since he'd come back in this body.

He looked up as his followers started filing in. "Rabin, go find Bella and scout Diagon Alley. I want to know if they have increased their protections. Take the young Malfoy with you."

Lucius stirred, as if he would say something, but remained quiet when Voldemort looked at him. Voldemort looked at the package and stilled, his eyes flaring into a glowing red.

_**Dork Lard Moldywart**_

_**Hiding in the Dark**_

He read the address and snarled to himself. This was Potter's work. He cast a detection spell over the package and found no magic on it at all. He was beyond angry now. Potter had stolen his people, but the only ones that should know the charm that allowed owls to find him were all still here. Most of them were in the room with him, and that meant Potter had turned one of them.

"Look," he hissed, holding the package up. "Harry Potter has sent me a gift. Isn't that nice of him?" He ripped the paper covering the package and a letter and a smaller paper covered package fell out. Voldemort ignored the smaller package and picked up the letter. "Let's find out what Mr. Potter wants to say, shall we?"

By this time, his followers were pale and looking from side to side, seeking an escape route. Voldemort kept one eye on them as he began to read Harry's letter aloud.

_Dear Moldywart,_

_I thought you might want to see the latest clothing fad before I start it. If you would like some for your Death Wankers, let me know and I'll get you a bulk rate discount._

_I must also thank you for the new family you have given me. In a few years, the names of Potter and Black will stand high in ranks of the Wizard community, since I have enough people to repopulate all the scum sucking halfbreed gits I'm going to have to destroy while I hunt you. I'll be especially happy to kill the Pureblood bigots as well, except for the one that has joined me, and repudiated you._

_I hope you have a will made out, your coffin chosen and someone to speak at your grave. I will look around, but I think you killed all the Riddles and the Gaunts are gone as well, so I think when I'm done with you, Tom Marvolo Riddle, Mr. Half-blood, Dork Lard Moldywart or whatever silliness you choose to call yourself this week, you are going to go to your grave un-mourned and unremembered by anyone save me, and I will use the fame I earn ridding the world of your pestiness to make sure that the next dark lord never gets as far as you did._

_By the way, Peter Pettigrew was instrumental in finding the one that betrayed you, which is why he stayed with me after the pathetic showing of your people yesterday. I hope you have better people hiding in the dark with you, because the ones you sent are dead. Well, except for Bella, and she has an appointment to keep._

_I thought you might like to know that Snape was captured by a Muggleborn schoolgirl and is going to be tried and convicted of the murder of Professor Dumbledore. I only wish they would let me kill him, but I'll have to settle for watching him get Kissed._

_I have to go now, I have an interview to do, so the world knows that the Death Wankers are pathetic._

_Look for me, Tommy boy. I'll be coming for you soon._

_Harry Potter, Baron Potter, Lord Black, The Montague, The Boy Who Lived, The Man With Too Bloody Many Titles, and the one that knows what the prophecy says._

_(I'll tell you the full Prophecy, for all three Malfoys, intact and given to me.)_

Voldemort looked at his followers, most of whom were white and visibly trembling. "Mr. Potter grows bold. This might upset a lesser man, but I am above the petty ranting of a child."

He listened to several audible sighs and then turned to face the window. "I am wondering about one thing, however. The only people that knew how to send me an owl are in this room, for the most part."

"My Lord," said Lucius Malfoy quickly, "Potter implied that Pettigrew was helping him. Might he have given Potter the charm?"

Voldemort cocked his head. "That is an interesting idea, Lucius, but I invade Pettigrew's mind every day, and I think Mr. Potter is lying about Pettigrew's help. As of the time he left with Bellatrix to collect the Weasley girl, he had no intention of betraying me. Since the Windenmere group left so suddenly, and so soon after that, I have to believe they had their plans in motion before then."

Lucius was sweating heavily, but he was trying to save his life. If the Dark Lord started brooding on that letter or looked at that package, people were going to die. He could feel it. "My Lord, I am not the traitor Potter speaks of. I ask you to look for yourself, and see that. Lucius moved up and knelt at Voldemort's feet, suddenly glad that Draco was not here. At least the bloodline was safe.

Voldemort nodded and turned to look at Lucius. He reached out with his magic and invaded Lucius' mind, searching it for information. Lucius quivered with the pain, but pain was becoming an close friend, and he didn't fall over at least.

Voldemort finished searching his mind and looked at the rest of his followers. "Who will match Lucius' offer? Who among you is loyal enough to let me into their minds willingly?"

Most of the Death Eaters stepped forward, but one, a man named Justin March stayed where he was. Voldemort looked at him. "Why will you not let me search your mind?"

Justin March had known he was going to die from the moment the Dark Lord had started reading the letter. That knowledge gave him a courage he'd never had before. "Because of two things, Lord Voldemort. I am no longer your man, body and soul, although it has nothing to do with betraying you. I simply doubt you can effectively lead us to victory."

Voldemort and March watched as the rest of the Death Eaters scrambled to get out from between them, backing as far away as the chamber would allow them to. Voldemort turned his attention to March. "And the second thing?"

Justin pulled himself up, standing proudly. "I am a Pureblood, with a Magical history that goes back eight hundred years. I was willing to follow the Heir of Slytherin, but I researched the ritual you used to come back. Bones of the Father, Flesh of the Servant and Blood of the Enemy. That left you no connection with your Slytherin Mother. Ergo, you are no longer that Heir. To make matters worse, your father was a Muggle, I found, and Potter's mother was also. You Sir, are one of the very Mudbloods I am trying to destroy, with Muggles in two of your three bloodlines, and there are suspicions about Pettigrew's blood as well."

Voldemort stepped away from the wall. "You are very brave, suddenly. Why?" Voldemort knew why, but he wanted March to say it.

Justin looked at him. "I have defied you, insulted you and am no longer completely loyal. In the way of your rule, you have to destroy me, or you will look weak. I know that I will die this day, and that, Lord Voldemort, is a knowledge that leaves me free to speak my mind."

Voldemort looked at him. "You will die, true. I will grant you one thing, for your honesty. You will die quickly, under the Killing Curse, rather than being turned over to Bella." He turned and looked at the rest of his followers. "This man has brought something up that some of you have thought about, and now that it is out, I will address those concerns."

"I am shocked that you did not do more research, March. If I am no longer the Heir, how do I keep the family ability of being a Parseltongue?" Without waiting for an answer he spun, looking at Justin. "I'll tell you why. The magic that makes us what we are is tied to your spirit, not the body it inhabits. Did you think I didn't consider that very point before I used that Ritual? There were a couple of other rituals I could have used, but none of them would have circumvented Potter's protections like that one did."

"My soul is still the soul of Slytherin's Heir, and I am that person. If the body was that important, I would not have my memories or my powers. Since I do, I have to believe that my research was correct and your Magic is tied to an intangible bit, your spirit."

He turned, raising his wand. "Good bye, Justin March." Voldemort waited a beat and spoke again. "Avada Kedavra." He looked up at the rest. "Does anyone else feel as he did?"

No one else spoke. "Pity. I think some of you are lying." Voldemort spun, and as he stepped down, his foot hit the package Harry had sent him. He looked at it and picked it up. He ripped the paper off of it and held up a shirt. He was looking at the back of it. "Potter should really have done more research," he said conversationally. "He's missing quite a few names here."

"Tommy 'Ridgil' Riddle. Who knows what a ridgil is?" Voldemort looked at his followers, but they were too busy staring at the front of the shirt to worry about anything except how many of them were going to die.

Voldemort turned the shirt around. "Moldywart and the Death Wankers World Tour," he read, "Coming soon to an Azkaban near you."

He looked up. "I don't understand the point of this shirt. It is insulting, but not that bad."

"My Lord," said Matthew Stragen, "Potter is imitating a Muggle thing. He has reduced our efforts to the level of a Muggle music group trying to sell records by playing their music in different places." The Death Eater was furious.

Voldemort looked at him. "I see." He pondered the shirt for a minute. "So, we are an entertainment for Potter, are we?" Voldemort smiled, a slow smile that made a chill run down the spine of the watchers. "Then I suppose we should entertain him."

He looked up. "But that is tomorrow's task. Right now, I must insure there are no more disloyal people in my ranks and that Potter has not truly turned one of you." Voldemort reached out and grabbed the nearest Death Eater. He searched the man's mind, ignoring the gasps and screams of pain that continued until the Death Eater passed out. When he was done, he dropped the body and looked up. "Next."

_**OoOoOoO The Quibbler, Saturday Morning. OoOoOoO**_

Harry watched Luna and Hermione working on the interview about Snape's capture and the attack on the Burrow. Ginny and Pansy were listening and offering advice. Miranda was watching over Hermione and being asked questions about her part in the fight. From the look on her face, she was not happy about it.

Harry turned to Oddball Lovegood. "I appreciate your willingness to work with me on this, Sir. Are you sure you don't want any help protecting the paper or your people?"

Oddball smiled at Harry. "Mr. Potter, accepting your help would imply that I don't trust the Ghostly Grundies to protect us, and that would insult them."

Harry sighed. Talking to Oddball was a lot like talking to Luna. They were not quite in the same world with the rest of the Wizards, and Mr. Lovegood's insistence on trusting creatures that Harry had never heard of was making Harry nervous.

He was going to ask the Lovegoods to print some things that would make Voldemort very angry and he didn't want invisible monsters to be the only defense the premises had. He'd been talking to Mr. Lovegood for nearly an hour though, and the man simply refused Harry's offers.

Harry looked around the small building again. The Quibbler was run from the Lovegood home, out of a building set in a small grove behind the house. Besides Oddball, there were two older Witches that wrote articles and help print the paper. Harry sighed again. Two old women, one middle aged man and Luna were the total defenses of this property. Well, he would just have to hope the ghastly golems or whatever they were, could do the job. Harry was not going to force the man to do anything.

Luna came into the small alcove that served Mr. Lovegood as his office. "Here's the public service announcement, father."

Oddball took it and Harry blinked as the man changed, reading the parchment and frowning at it. He marked lines on it, scribbled things in the margins and made edit marks in places. When he was done he handed it back to Luna. "Rewrite this, and for Merlin's sake, watch your commas."

Luna nodded and went back to the table where the other girls were. Hermione took the parchment and looked it over. She turned and looked at Mr. Lovegood, who was muttering something at a stuffed animal and back at the paper. Shaking her head, she got another piece of parchment and started writing.

While the girls rewrote the article, Harry gave Mr. Lovegood every detail he could remember about Tom Riddle, including Augusta Longbottom's story about him cleaning the toilets his first year.

Oddball was a different man while he worked, focused and with a keen grasp of the right questions to ask to complete the story. When Harry was done, Oddball looked at it. :"This is a lot of information, Mr. Potter. Since it is a public service announcement, I will have to verify as much as possible. It will be a couple of weeks before it goes to print."

Harry nodded. "I understand. Some of that information took Professor Dumbledore years to acquire."

Harry paid for four subscriptions to the Quibbler, two for his place, one for the Burrow and one for Remus. The last one was mostly a joke, as Remus's opinion of the Quibbler was very much like Hermione's.

When the ladies were done with the interview to Mr. Lovegood's satisfaction, Harry and the girls left, heading to Diagon Alley. Harry checked on the twins, but they hadn't finished working on Harry's requests yet, so Harry and the four women had a quick lunch at the Leaky Cauldron.

While they were eating, Rita Skeeter came up. "Mr. Potter, how are you?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged glances. Rita was being far too polite. "Very well, Miss. Skeeter," Harry said. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?"

Rita sat down. "I've just spent a fascinating morning at the Ministry, where I learned a lot of things. Would you care to comment on any of them?"

Before Harry could answer, Ginny spoke. "You're being very polite. Why?" Ginny's opinion of Rita was plain in her voice.

Rita frowned at her. "Ginevra Weasley, isn't it? Normally, as I am not talking to you, I would not answer that. However, you are part of what I learned about and I suspect Mr. Potter has the same question." She smiled coldly. "He simply has better manners."

Pansy put a hand over Ginny's as she bristled, distracting her, a move watched by Rita with interest before she turned back to Harry. "The last interview we did made me quite a bit of money, and has allowed me to raise my prices. Since you seem to be good for business, you get better treatment." She shrugged. "Until that changes, of course."

Harry grinned. "I understand that, but you will have to wait until tomorrow for an interview. I am relaxing today, with a few members of my families."

Rita frowned. "Can I ask you three questions today? No more, but there are a couple of things I really need to confirm before I finish this story."

Harry sighed. "Three. No more, and I reserve the right to refuse to answer anything."

Rita nodded. "Rumour in the Ministry has you at the fight with the Death Eaters. Did you really cut off Severus Snape's hand?"

Harry nodded. "I did, but only by accident. At the time, he was in Death Wanker attire, and I didn't know who he was. Hermione Granger-Black came up and stunned him."

Rita looked at Hermione. "Well, it seems I might have to talk to you, also."

Hermione smiled. "You could, or you could read tomorrow's Quibbler. Everything I know about the attack will be there."

Rita sighed. "That figures. You both like that paper."

Harry nodded. "I do. It, unlike the Daily Prophet, does not glorify the Death Wankers or Moldywart." Harry had said that just to see what Rita did, and he was not disappointed.

Rita stared at Harry, her mouth falling open, and then she looked around to see who was listening. "Mr. Potter, are you insane? You're going to get people killed talking like that."

Harry shrugged. "I've been calling him that for a week now, and nothing has happened to anyone that has heard it yet. Perhaps Moldywart isn't as strong as you all believe."

Rita shook her head. "You are insane. You will understand if I don't print your name for You Know Who."

She looked at Harry and glanced at Miranda. "Second question. Have you hired a Defender to protect Miss Weasley?"

Harry shook his head. "Miranda Riddle is a member of one of my families and she is not protecting Miss Weasley, but Miss Granger-Black." Harry frowned. "Miranda, which of my families did you join, anyway?"

Miranda smiled. "I am a Black, and Lukas is a Montague."

Harry nodded. "Sorry I didn't ask you sooner, but it slipped my mind."

Rita listened to the exchange with interest. "Well, there's a question I don't have to ask. You will be the head of three families when you come of age."

Harry nodded, aware that he couldn't hide that information. "I will."

Rita wrote something on her pad and looked up. "My last question then, has to do with the events at the Ministry last year. It took a while, but I have learned that your fight with the Death Eaters started in the Hall of Mysteries. Would you care to comment on that?"

Harry frowned. He thought for a minute while Rita watched him closely. "All I will say, is that those of us that were there, were lured there by the Death Eaters for some purpose of theirs. Since I have not spoken to them, I cannot honestly say what their ultimate goal was in doing so."

Rita stared at him for a minute. "You know more than you're saying. It appears that I will have to do some more digging into that night." She stood up. "Thank you Mr. Potter. You've been most helpful. When may I call on you for a longer interview?"

Harry looked at her. "Let me see what you do with this article, and I'll get back to you."

Rita smiled. "Mr. Potter, that was a great statement. No promises, but an implied threat that 'never' is the answer if you don't like what I write. You've changed, Harry."

Harry shrugged. "It's not like I had much choice. Having an insane dark lord after you does that."

Rita winced again. "Excuse me, but I'll just be running along, before some Death Eater hears you talking like that and decides to do something about it." She left, and Harry used his sight on her as she walked away. Rita was a dark grey, with a large black spot and the smallest white spot Harry had yet seen. He frowned. He was beginning to understand the spots.

The white spot was a measure of love. The more people you loved, the larger your white area was. Harry felt a moment's pity for Rita, who loved no one but herself.

The rest of their meal passed quietly, with most of the talk being Hermione fretting about being so late in buying the books for their seventh year. Harry and the group had a great deal of quiet fun watching Hermione descend on Flourish and Botts after lunch.

When the sales clerk saw her coming, he closed his eyes. He opened them when they opened the door and stepped inside the store. "Miss Granger, how are you?"

Hermione smiled at him. "Fine, Archie. How are the kids?" Harry blinked as Archie and Hermione exchanged a few words and then Hermione passed Archie a list. "I need all of this, and what have you got that's new?"

Archie looked at the list mournfully. "Hermione," he said, "are you trying to buy us out? It would be easier just to make an offer for the store all at once."

Hermione smiled again. "But then I wouldn't have the fun of coming in here and poking around." She started going through the shelves then, running her fingers over the books as she read the titles.

Harry watched her with a smile. Ginny moved up next to Harry. "She's almost caressing the books Harry." Watching the way Hermione's fingers danced over the spines, Harry had to agree.

He moved over to Archie. "Excuse me, but would you put all of her purchases on this, please?" Harry handed him the Gringotts card.

Archie took it and looked at Harry for the first time, speaking before he even really saw Harry. "She's going to make quite a dent," He stopped and looked at Harry again, his eyes flickering to Harry's forehead. "Mr. Potter. I'm sorry I didn't greet you sooner."

Harry waved that off. "Hermione is a good customer, I take it. Of course you would take care of her first."

The two of them turned to watch Hermione approach, carrying another armful of books. She set them down on the counter and looked at the card in Archie's hand. She looked at Harry. "Well, that changes things." She turned back toward the books, grabbing Ginny and Pansy by the hands. "Come on, you can help me carry things."

Archie sighed. "Every time she comes in here, I wish I was paid on commission."

Harry looked at Archie again. "Muggleborn?" he asked, as he'd never heard any Wizard talking about commissions."

Archie shook his head. "No, but I read a great deal, and Hermione loaned me a few Muggle books on sales and stores. I read about commissions there."

By the time Hermione was done, even with shrinking spells it took three bags to carry all the books. She smiled at Harry. "Remind me to thank you later."

The group's last stop of the day was Mr. Sharpstar's office, where Harry spent nearly an hour in the conference room alone with him. When they came out, Harry had a Slytherin smile on his face. He refused to say anything though, claiming it was a surprise.

_**OoOoOoO Harry and the girls, Harry's Room. OoOoOoO**_

Sunday, Harry dressed in the military fatigues he'd bought and waited. Moody was going to come over and take them to the training area where Harry's people would be getting their training. Moody showed up around nine, stepping though the Floo.

He looked at Harry. "You have to change your Floo address, Harry. Calling out 'Harry's Magnificent Mansion' is just silly."

Harry sighed. "Talk to Dobby. He set the thing."

Mad-eye's signature eye rolled for a minute. "It will have to wait. He's not in the building right now." Moody gave them the Floo address of the training area he'd chosen.

The group followed Miranda to "The Inferno".

Harry stayed on his feet this time, and smiled. He was getting the hang of this Floo, although he'd still prefer his Broomstick.

Moody was already talking as he walked out of the small room with the fireplace. "This used to be an Auror training facility until Fudge cut the funding. We rented it as a warehouse." He paused and looked at Harry. "You'll be getting the bill for that, by the way. None of us could afford this place."

Moody led them down a hallway with a dozen or so smaller rooms that had been used for offices and classrooms. At the end of the hall was a large set of double doors. He pushed a door open and led them into a large room.

They were standing on a balcony that ran completely around the room about ten metres off the floor of the room. The room itself was a maze and from the balcony, you could see almost all of it. Harry blinked at he saw people standing in the maze in random places, until he realized that they didn't move.

Moody smiled. "This is the Inferno, the ultimate training facility. Once, you had to navigate the maze before you could become a Senior Auror. Those people you see down there are not real, they're dummies with a single purpose. They are twice as fast as any human and they cast only one spell. The Cruciatus."

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and Pansy stared at him while Miranda looked at the course with more interest.

Moody grinned savagely at their expressions. "All you have to do is get through the maze, but that for the end of training. For now, let's get started seeing where you are in your training."

The next four hours were a close approximation of Hell, Harry decided. Moody and the other trainers pushed them, testing reflexes, hand to eye coordination, physical endurance, and a host of other things to determine where they needed work.

Harry was very happy when they were done with the physical test and moved on to magical tests.

Until he was being tested. The first test measured the sheer power of the testee. It was a box, with a hole in the side that you placed your hand into. Harry looked at the box while the Instructor at this station droned on. He snuck a look at Moody, who was watching with a challenging grin. "This is going to hurt, isn't it?"

Moody grinned wider. "Not exactly, Harry. You're not going to like it, but it doesn't hurt."

Harry took a deep breath and stuck his hand in the box.

He felt the pull of a Portkey and tried to pull away but it was too late. Harry landed on the ground with a thump and rolled to his feet, reaching for his wand. _"Moody betrayed me,_" he thought and froze as a voice he'd heard twice came out of the fog.

"Well, well, well. Look who's come to play with us. No spare for us to kill this time, Potter?"

Harry spun, leading with his wand. Voldemort stood there, with nearly thirty other figures, all wearing the masks of Death Eaters.

One of them stepped up and summoned the box, Apparating away with it.

Voldemort stepped closer. "I won't let you run like you did before and there's no Dumbledore to save you this time. It's time for our final duel, Harry Potter."

_**OoOoOoO The Author, Here and Now. OoOoOoO**_

_I love finding new and interesting ways to mangle Death Wankers, and Harry's got thirty of them to play with. I think we may see a bit of violence in the next chapter. Some of you may remember that at the beginning of the chapter, I said it would take us up to Monday, but that at the end, it's only Sunday afternoon. I have two reasons for that. First, this chapter is approaching twenty-one thousand words, and I try to keep the chapters under twenty thousand words each. Second... Well, that was just too good of a cliffie to waste._

_In other news, currently, I am writing:_

_Harry Potter and the Shades of Grey (SoG)_

_Harry Potter and the Science of Magic (SoM)_

_Harry Potter and the Bonds of Blood (BoB)_

_Harry Potter and the Supreme Plan (HP&SP)_

_Harry Potter and the Demon Inside (HP&DI)_

_101 Crossover Ways to Kill Voldemort (101)_

_Muggleborn Magic and Wizard Science (MM&WS)_

_The Prophecy of Eight (PoE)_

_Untitled Series; based on Potions, Puking and Punishment_

_I have a bit of all of them ready, but I simply cannot work on all of them at once. I get lost as to what Harry's doing in a particular story, and who's a supporting cast member of which story. I am going to continue PoE, SoG and one other, but the rest I will put on hiatus until I finish one of the ones I keep working on. (That, of course is only the Harry Potter fanfiction I'm doing. Grame Manifesto is entirely separate, but still takes up my time.)_

_Anyway, I am asking you which of the other works you would like to have me finish first. For the stories you have not seen on this site, here are summaries of all of them._

SoG: You're reading this one or you wouldn't be here. Do you really need a summary?

SoM: Harry Potter goes to live with the Dursleys, but on Dudley's fifth birthday, all three of the Dursleys are killed in a car crash. Harry, who was left at Mrs. Figg's house, is sent to live with the only relatives of the Dursleys that will take him in. Albert and Wanda Morgan are research scientists with the government. Harry is raised in a logical home, where the mind that the Sorting Hat commented on is stretched to its fullest. A certain letter on his 11th birthday is going to wreak havoc with that logic. AU, H/Hr, RW/LL, GW/NL

BoB: In JKR's world, Lily cast the spell that protected Harry. In BoB, James cast the spell. Come with me as we explore the changes this will make in Harry's life. AU, ships not determined yet.

HP&SP: Albus Dumbledore has spent decades slowly guiding the Wizard world into what he wants it to be. Harry Potter can make the process move a little faster... If Albus can bring him into the Supreme Plan. AU, Grey!Dumbledore

HP&DI: The Demon Inside was a short story, with two separate endings. They kept nagging at me though, and now, it's being continued with a bit of the Saint story and some of the Demon story in each chapter. Aux2, Light!Harry/Dark!Harry, H/Hr, H/other, and more impossibilities for normal stories.

101: Purely an amusement, as I torment Voldemort in any way I or the readers can think of. Watch Voldemort face Jason, Jaws, the Smurfs and the Care Bears. AU/Crossovers, no ships, pure Voldemort bashing.

MM&WS: Voldemort is dead, but life goes on for the Trio. Harry is hard at work in the Wizengamot, trying to drag the Wizards into the 20th century at least. Ron is playing Quidditch professionally and Hermione... is being Hermione. A Muggleborn Witch who is willing to mix and match Magic and Science might do more for the Wizard world than anything Harry can do. AU, Post Hogwarts, H/Hr, NL/LL, R/girl of the week.

PoE: AU. Harry killed Voldemort fifteen years ago and now a Dark Wizard rises that will make Voldemort look like a child having a temper tantrum. Eight very special children from four countries and two continents have been chosen by Fate to stop a Muggleborn Dark Lord from assuming power in both worlds. AU, H/G, R/Hr, Post Hogwarts

Untitled Series: Potions, Puking and Punishment was another short story that wouldn't leave me alone. Hogwarts has seen some of the greatest pranksters of any time or place, but the best of them remains completely unknown and that's just the way Daphne Greengrass wants it. AU, DG/BZ

_So, there are the choices... Sog and PoE will continue along with one other of your choice. Leave a review and let me know which one you want._

Raven


	9. Betrayal, Death and Reactions

_Moody has betrayed Harry, and Harry is cut off from everyone, facing thirty Death Eaters and Voldemort himself. Harry is not happy._

_Completely Serious Disclaimer: I didn't do it, I'm not responsible, It's not my fault, I wasn't even there at the time, Nobody saw me do it, and without videotape, you can't prove it anyway._

_Although, if anyone can find a way to prove I own Harry Potter and all related rights, please, let me know._

_(Did you really believe I was going to print a serious disclaimer? If so, I have some ocean front property in Montana to sell you.)_

_**Harry Potter and The Shades of Grey**_

_**Chapter Nine.**_

_**Betrayals, Death and Reactions.**_

Harry froze for a second as one thought ran though his head. Moody had betrayed them all, and he had all of Harry's closest friends in that place.

The wave of magic that exploded from Harry then dwarfed anything he'd ever done as he cast a shield between him and the Death Eaters raising their wands. Harry turned and ran for the forest behind him. He could not exchange spells with this many people and win. He had to divide them, take them down one at a time until he could find a way to escape and find Moody.

Moody was going to pay for this. Harry kept returning to that thought as he ran into the woods and then he stopped thinking as Professor Snape rose up in front of him, waving an ugly red stump. "Take my hand, will you? Keep it as a trophy? When we kill you, Potter, I'll keep your tramp as my trophy."

Harry and Snape leveled their wands and Harry was just a shade faster, not having wasted time speaking. "Serpensortia," he called and a three meter snake appeared close to Snape. "Kill him," Harry said in Parseltongue, even as he dropped to avoid the red dart of a Cruciatus that lanced out from Snape's wand.

Snape looked at the snake contemptuously. "Is that all you have, Potter? A make believe snake? You are even more pathetic than I had imagined."

Harry finally said something, even as he leveled his wand at Snape again, waiting for him to turn his wand on the snake. "No, it's merely a visible example."

Snape frowned but the snake was getting closer quickly and he turned his wand to destroy it.

Harry had been waiting for that, that second when Snape's attention wasn't on Harry. He cast the Cross-Species Transfiguration and a pale green light washed over Snape, who screamed in pain as he was changed, mutated into a one meter long version of the bigger snake. Harry grinned savagely. He had not been sure that spell would work on a human, although it should, since it worked on other mammals. Harry spoke again in Parseltongue, hoping Snape could understand him now. "Eat the little one, my friend. Feed yourself on him."

Snape could hear and understand, Harry had to assume, as he slithered away, with the other snake in rapid pursuit. Harry grinned as they disappeared into the woods only to lose the decidedly evil smile as voices came closer. He looked around and stepped behind a tree.

Harry thought quickly, trying to think of something that would occupy them long enough for him to think of a way to get back to the Inferno and a memory from first year surfaced. Harry looked around and found a rock. He cast three spells on it in rapid order and turned from the clearing.

He was fifty metres away when the screams started. He had an errant thought then. _"I must remember to thank whoever made the giant chess set for the traps around the Philosopher's Stone."_

Behind him, the man sized pawn continued to try and kill Death Eaters, only to be met with a hail of concussive spells and blasting spells. It would take them two minutes to reduce it to rubble, and by then it would have crushed two Death Eater's skulls.

Harry came around a tree and literally ran into a Death Eater, knocking both of them to the ground. Harry rolled over the Death Eater and sprang up, his wand tracking on Her?

He stopped as Bella grinned at him. "Be nice, Harry. I can't hurt you since you accepted my request, nor can you attack me." She cocked her head, listening. She grinned again. "I would hurry if I were you though, or I'll be needing a new second." She stood up and considered him for a second, and then kissed him full on the mouth. "Pity you're so nice. We could have such fun together." Bella disappeared, leaving Harry blinking rapidly.

The crack of a branch brought him out of his Bellatrix induced stupor and he whirled, leading with his wand. He saw only another Death Eater and cast a stupefy at him. The Death Eater fell and Harry touched him with his wand and cast another spell. When he was done with that, he hit the Death Eater with another stupefy and left him there. Harry took his wand and broke it as he left.

"Potter, how nice of you to come my way." Voldemort's voice was still high pitched and filled with the menace of insanity. Harry dropped and rolled as soon as he heard Voldemort speaking and it was a good thing. The twisting putrid green spell Voldemort had cast at him passed over his moving body and struck a tree. The spell exploded into a clingy goo when it hit and the goo began eating though the tree at a phenomenal rate. In mere seconds, the tree was gone.

Harry ducked the red beam of a Cruciatus and jumped behind a tree. He couldn't kill Voldemort yet, so dueling him when Voldemort could kill him was the height of stupidity. He grinned suddenly and peered around the side of the tree.

Voldemort was looking in another direction and Harry poked his wand just past the edge of the tree and took careful aim. He got ready to run and cast his spell. He didn't stick around to see what happened after it, but took off running, trying to keep a tree between Voldemort and himself, counting on Riddle being too busy to hit him with a spell.

He listened to the impassioned cursing behind him and wished for Colin and his camera. At least the bat bogeys would keep him occupied for a minute.

Harry's luck ran out a few minutes later, after he'd resorted to Reducto when three Death Eaters came around a tree together. He beat them, leaving pieces of them scattered across the landscape, but they delayed him long enough for the rest of the Death Eaters to show up, led by a very angry Voldemort. The Death Eaters surrounded Harry, and he realized that there were still nearly thirty of them, despite the casualties he'd been inflicting. His despair and anger grew as even more of them came out of the woods.

"I am going to kill you, Harry Potter. For your insult, I will kill you slowly, causing all the pain I can before you die, and you will die knowing that every person you know will die the exact same way."

Harry looked around, searching for a way out of this one and came up blank. Death Eaters were continuing to pour into the clearing, nearly one hundred strong now, and all of them pointing wands his way.

In front of them was Voldemort, his red eyes gleaming with anger, malice and madness.

Harry could feel Death Eaters surrounding him, and an unbidden thought came to him. The only magic he'd ever heard of, that had a circular effect was some types of accidental magic that children did.

Harry sighed, put his wand away and concentrated on his friends and their fate if he failed. He thought about Voldemort's threat to kill them all and then Harry stopped thinking and started feeling. Anger, despair, fear, love and joy, everything he felt for his friends, Harry let flow into him. Harry didn't know how to do accidental magic, but he knew how it happened.

Not enough control, and too much feeling. That, Harry could do easily.

He let everything that Voldemort had done to him and his friends flow, feeling the loss of his parents, of Cedric, of Sirius, years of abuse at the Dursley's hands and everything else that could be laid at Voldemort's door.

When Harry was quivering with suppressing the emotional overload, he looked up at Voldemort.

"Bugger off, you bloody Mudblood." Harry quit controlling himself and screamed his defiance of the enemy.

Raw magic, unformed and uncontrolled exploded from Harry, covering the clearing in less than a second, racing though everything and everyone there. The entire clearing and the other people in it wavered and vanished, leaving a spent Harry Potter to collapse to the ground, blood pouring from his nose, ears and eyes.

_**OoOoOoO Mad-Eye Moody,The Inferno. OoOoOoO**_

Mad-Eye watched as Harry put his hand in the box and froze. The box was designed to measure the amount and power of a Wizard or Witch's magic. It did so by making the test subject think they were in the worst possible place for them to be, and that they had no options left but to use all their power.

With most people, the test was over in seconds, ten at most. Mad-Eye frowned as Harry passed a full minute in the box. An amazing range of feelings passed across his face as Moody watched him.

Fear, anger, fury, a whimsical smile? Finally Harry's face settled into a rage so profoundly disturbing that Moody took a step back.

An instant later the box began glowing as the test ended, but at the same time, a wave of magic exploded from Harry, blowing Moody across the room and destroying everything in the room except Moody, the box and Harry.

Moody's last sight before he faded into the blackness that overwhelmed him was of blood erupting from Harry's head as Harry fell to the ground, limp and still.

_**OoOoOoO The rest of the group, The Inferno. OoOoOoO**_

Hermione was laying on the floor while Pansy massaged a cramp out of her leg. "I knew I wasn't in the best shape, but oh!" Hermione stopped to gasp as Pansy pressed on the knot in her thigh. "I'm going to be hating life for awhile," she predicted mournfully.

"Please remember that," Miranda said smugly, "when I'm trying to get you to do something besides study."

Ginny rolled over and looked at the others. "I thought playing Quidditch was supposed to keep you in shape."

Ron sighed. "I hate to say this, but I have to agree with Ginny." Ginny was too tired to respond to that with anything except a baleful glare.

Luna was standing by the wall of the empty office Miranda had led them to while they waited to begin the magical tests. "I think you should help me hunt Crumple-horned Snorkacks next year. Climbing over rocks and up and down mountains seems to work better than sitting on a Broomstick and flying around."

Before anyone could respond to that there was an explosion from down the hall and a wave of magic they were all familiar with rushed though the room. Miranda was the first to move, crossing to stand over Hermione. "Get up! We have to go see what happened!"

Luna and Ginny were closest to the door and Luna beat Ginny out the door only because she'd been standing up. Ron and Pansy were close behind them, followed by Miranda and Hermione who had to wait for Pansy to get off her.

Three of the trainers were rushing down the hall with Neville and the group poured into the room Moody had taken Harry into.

There was a jam up at the door as each person stopped for a second to register what they saw before the press of people behind them pushed them into the room.

Luna had been the first one in the room and she went to her knees by Harry. Her dreamy expression never changed as she pulled back an eyelid and examined Harry closely, casting a spell over him.

"Harry has used all his magic," she reported calmly, making the Wizards hiss in dismay and horror. Hermione frowned. She hadn't studied much Wizard medicine beyond the basic first aid that any friend of Harry's seemed to need to know.

Luna went on. "Someone check on Mr. Moody. Ron, please get me the case I brought with me. Neville, come here." Neville came closer, wondering what the Witch wanted. Luna reached up and kissed him on the cheek. "I've heard that a kiss is considered lucky, and we're going to need some luck."

Hermione and Pansy stared at Luna in disbelief. Ginny was on her knees beside Luna as soon as there was room. "How do we stop the bleeding?" she asked.

Luna shook her head. "I can't, right now. Harry has no magic. For all intents and purposes, right now, he's a Muggle and no magical treatments will work on him." Luna considered that. "Maybe I should look into some Muggle treatments."

Ron came back in the room with Luna's carpetbag, a strange bag with small moving pictures of strange creatures running around on it. Luna reached inside and pulled out a potion Ron recognized. "Luna, is it safe to give Harry that right now? That stuff nearly made me bounce out a window, and I was in far better shape than Harry."

Luna shrugged. "I don't know. I do know that no normal potion will work since potions all require that the user have a touch of magic in them to activate it. A Squib, with just enough magic to see magical sites could use a Pepper-up Potion, but Harry doesn't even have that much magic right now.."

One of the trainers frowned at Luna. "How can your potion help him then?"

Luna carefully poured a bit of the potion into Harry's mouth,massaging his throat until the potion trickled down. "Because this is a self activating potion,with a bit of my magic in it. Hopefully that will be enough for Harry to be able to use it."

Hermione frowned as all the Wizardborn around her stared at Luna and Ron flushed several shades of red. "Would someone tell me what's wrong with that?" she asked when no one said anything. They watched Luna pour a bit more into Harry before Miranda spoke.

Miranda was in her Defender mode, blank faced and with the toneless voice that Hermione was learning covered emotional turmoil. "Miss Black, most Wizards and Witches will only share magic with another person once in their lives, when they marry. It's closer than anything you can do, even more intimate than making love."

Ginny took over the potion from Luna as Luna turned to rummage around in her bag again. "Talking is a sharing of the mind, an offering of the intellect," Luna said as she put her arm into her bag nearly to the shoulder, fishing around for something. "Making love is an offering of the body. Sharing Magic is an offering of everything that makes you what you are. I think it's an offering of Love."

Everyone was diverted then as Moody moaned and the trainer that had been looking after him helped him stand up. Moody shook his head and looked at Harry. "Mr. Potter continues to surprise me," he growled as he rubbed his neck. "Only two other people have managed to overload the wards on the box, and neither of them overloaded them to the point that their magic affected anything outside the box, it merely shut down and threw them out of the scene."

Ron sighed. "That's Harry for you. He can't do anything normally." Ron looked at Luna. "He is going to be alright, isn't he?"

"Of course he is. This can't kill him, you know." Luna was serenely unconcerned.

Pansy stared at her. "How do you know that? Most Wizards die when they lose their magic. Our immune systems depend on it, as well as the rest of our system. That's why Wizards live longer than Muggles."

Luna finally pulled a beat up old stuffed dragon from the bag and tucked it under Harry's arm. "The Prophecy says that Harry can only die at Voldemort's hands. This didn't have anything to do with the Mold Lord of Many Capitals, so it can't kill him."

The other people stared at Luna and then at each other.

Hermione was running though the prophecy in her head, and it looked like some of the other were also.

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." (OotP, JKR.)_

Hermione frowned. The prophecy didn't actually say that Harry couldn't be killed by anyone except Voldemort, but the wording was strange.

"_And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ..."_

Hermione frowned. Honestly, that didn't make any sense. Both of them were alive now, so how could 'neither live while the other survives'?

Her thoughts were interrupted as Harry coughed and moaned weakly. Hermione and Pansy joined Ginny next to Harry. He opened his eyes, gazing unfocused at them. "Moody... betrayal," he said weakly, struggling to get up. "I have to stop him."

Ginny pushed him down. "No, Harry, it was a test. Moody didn't betray you, Harry," she said soothingly.

Harry tried to focus. "Everyone's safe?" he asked, staring at Ginny.

"Yes, Harry," said Pansy. "Hermione and I are watching over them. You let Ginny take care of you."

Harry looked at Pansy and Hermione and relaxed. His eyes closed and he was unconscious again in seconds.

Miranda sighed wistfully. "I could have made him the greatest Defender ever ten years ago. What a waste."

Moody grinned. "We are going to make him the defender of the entire world, isn't that enough for you?"

Miranda shrugged. "No." She looked at Harry. "He's too old for proper training, and I shouldn't do this, but you will set aside three hours a week for me to train him."

Moody blinked. "Any chance I could sit in on that training?"

"No."

Moody almost pouted. "Some people have all the luck."

Miranda looked down at Harry. "Ask him if he thinks he's lucky in a month."

_**OoOoOoO Mr. Sharpstar, The Wizengamot Chamber. OoOoOoO**_

"And so, my client is asking for the following law to be enacted." Nicholas Sharpstar watched the members of the Wizengamot closely as he laid out the proposed law Harry had asked about. On the surface, it was a mere clarification of an existing Dark Creature law. However, if this bill was passed the way Mr. Sharpstar had worded it, it would put Death Eaters on the same level as werewolves and vampires.

That would be seen with a few minutes thought, and Harry and Nicholas were not expecting the bill to pass yet. This attempt was about something else entirely. All they wanted right now, was to see who voted against the bill. It wouldn't flush out all of Voldemort's supporters in the Wizengamot, and a few that voted against it would not be Dark, merely unwilling to add to the Dark Creature laws on the books already.

It would give them a starting point to clean up the Wizengamot, however, and allow them to tailor future bills to negate the power of the people that would not like what Harry wanted to do.

Nicholas Sharpstar was a Pureblood Wizard, with hundreds of years of Wizard history in his family, and he'd never considered his opinions of Muggleborns, Half bloods or non-humans before Harry had come to him, burning with a desire to make things right for good people, no matter what their blood lines were.

Miss Granger-Black was an excellent case in Harry's favor. Honest, brave and smart, she was a person that any family should be proud to have, but she was considered less than many who had Pureblood lines, but nothing else.

Sharpstar had been looking at his own thoughts since Harry had made his wants and opinions clear, and to be honest, Nicholas was not entirely happy with himself. Granted, he'd never had much to do with non-humans, but that should have meant he simply didn't have an opinion, since he didn't have any facts to rest opinions on.

He finished his speech and watched as a couple of people spoke, both for and against the bill. He noted the arguments the opponents used, planning on refuting their arguments if he needed to speak again. He grinned as the Wizengamot broke for lunch before the debate was over. Harry was going to make being a Solicitor fun again, like it had been when Mary was helping him.

In his office, he wrote out his impressions of the people that had spoken against the bill, and made a Floo call. Twenty minutes later, a man came in the office and sat down without saying anything. Mr. Sharpstar looked at him.

James Henry Michaels was a Wizard of average height and very ordinary looking. He was also one of the best investigators in the Wizard world. Nicholas had been friends with him for more than forty years and a client nearly as long.

"It's been a long time since you called me for work, Nick. What's so important?"

Nicholas Sharpstar smiled. "I am representing Harry Potter, and we have a lot of work for you, with more to come. Harry has a desire to change the world, and I'm going to help him."

Michaels looked at his friend thoughtfully. Nick hadn't been this animated since Mary had died, nearly twenty years ago. Whatever Mr. Potter wanted to do, it had brought Nick out of his depression, and that meant it was a good thing. Michaels would help them, to the best of his ability.

"What do you want me to do?"

_**OoOoOoO Harry and his Ladies, The Inferno. OoOoOoO**_

Harry was laid out on a bed in the small infirmary in the Inferno. Hermione, Ginny and Pansy were sitting around his bed, using damp cloths to clean blood off Harry. "How does he bleed so much?" asked Ginny fretfully.

"Practice," Hermione said wryly.

Pansy rinsed her cloth and looked at the other two girls. "Do you remember our conversation of a few days ago?"

Hermione frowned at her. "It was just three days ago, even a Gryffindor doesn't forget things that quickly."

Pansy looked at them. "I told you that I talked Harry into our agreement, because I need him right now, and not because there was any feeling between us."

Ginny nodded. "Harry is protecting you, and giving himself a reason to continue to do so when we return to Hogwarts. You said that the two of you would continue to put off an actual engagement until after Voldemort was gone, and then you would break up."

Pansy nodded. "What I don't understand, is why you two agreed to share him for real."

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other. Hermione answered her slowly. "It's very simple. Ginny loves Harry, and she has for as long as she can remember. She used to love the Boy Who Lived, but she's had a chance to know Harry, and Harry is just as good as any myth."

Hermione sighed as she finished with Harry's arm and started on his shoulder. "I love Harry, and you know about that, you were there when I told Harry. Ginny and I talked about it, and to be completely honest, if we refused to share him, we think he'd walk away from both of us."

Pansy frowned. "Harry loves both of you. That's plain to anyone with eyes."

Ginny nodded. "He does, and that's the problem. What happens to his friendship and love for Hermione, if he chooses me?"

Hermione nodded. "Going the other way, what happens to his relationship with Ginny and the Weasleys, his only family, if he chooses me?"

Pansy thought about it. "So you think he'd make a choice by walking away?"

"It would be the only response that would allow everyone else involved to keep their friendships intact. He would be unhappy about it, but he would also do it. Harry has never let him getting hurt stand in the way of him doing the right thing. Leaving both of us would keep him from having to hurt one of us badly," Hermione said.

Ginny blushed. "Plus, Hermione and you intrigued me with that conversation we had, and I am not totally opposed to the idea of a female lover."

Pansy smiled at her. "But you'd prefer a Harry lover."

Ginny's blush deepened. "I would, but I don't think it's going to happen anytime soon." She sighed. "I think I made a mistake when we first started dating."

Pansy and Hermione looked at her. "What did you do?" asked Hermione.

"I told Harry I wanted to be a virgin on my wedding night."

Pansy groaned. "Why?"

Ginny sighed. "Because mum was, and she made it sound like a wonderful thing, but after sleeping with the three of you, and waking up with kisses, I'm beginning to think it may be overrated."

Hermione blushed. "I can still touch a Unicorn, I think. Ron and I never actually did that, we did other things."

Pansy shook her head, eyes lost in a memory. "No, you can't. Unicorns don't choose between types of sex. If you've done something you know is sexual, you can't touch one."

Hermione sighed. "Oh well. I did want to investigate some of the possibilities in their healing, but I can find something else."

Ginny was studying Pansy. "Sooner or later, we're going to hear your life story, Pansy. You have too many secrets that could come back to haunt us."

Pansy looked at Ginny. "You still don't trust me, do you?"

Ginny shook her head. "Too many years of hearing how dark you are, and watching you run around with Malfoy." Ginny shivered for a second but continued. "I know that you're a Windenmere, and that you people put your family before anything else, but I know what I saw, also. I will keep watching you until I am sure you will not hurt Harry."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Ginny, she's had plenty of chances to do things to Harry, if she wanted to."

Ginny nodded slowly, watching Pansy. "Yes, she has. Hermione, you may not know this, but the Windenmere families have a reputation for incredibly convoluted Plans, that make take years to fully unfold, don't you Pansy?"

"Yes, we do," Pansy admitted freely. "We've always been Slytherins, in the true tradition of Salazar Slytherin. We are Purebloods, mostly, and ambitious as anything. Ambition, in and of itself, though, is not a bad thing. It's how you go about obtaining your ambitions that make you light, grey or dark."

Ginny nodded. "And while Harry says you are no darker than he is, we don't know about the rest of your family, and since they control you, and not Harry, I will watch you."

Pansy put on a mock pout. "Don't you trust me, Ginny?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "Do you trust her, Hermione?"

Hermione smiled at Ginny. "Hold on." She leaned forward and grabbed Pansy's head just as Harry had, a day earlier. Hermione looked at Pansy. "Pansy," she said, and something in her voice had changed. She sounded firmer, more authoritarian, but somehow sexy at the same time.

Pansy struggled for a second and then quieted, staring at Hermione with a slight smile and dilated eyes. "Yes, Miss Black?"

Ginny watched in confusion. She knew something was going on, but she didn't understand what. Hermione smiled again and used her thumbs to caress Pansy's face while she held her. "You know what I am, and what you are, yes?"

"Yes, Miss Black." Pansy was smiling wider now, and leaning into Hermione's caresses.

"And you know what will happen, if I decide I can't trust you, or that you might hurt Harry, don't you?" Hermione's voice had changed again, causing Pansy's eyes to open wide. Hermione sounded cold, impersonal, and her thumbs were digging into Pansy's skin, leaving red marks in her cheeks.

Pansy shivered. "I do, but I will never give you reason to do anything to me."

Hermione stared into her eyes for a minute and then smiled slowly. She leaned forward and kissed Pansy, much as she kissed Harry. Pansy happily submitted to the ministrations of the other Witch until Hermione sat back, giving Pansy one last caress with her thumbs. "See that you don't."

Hermione looked at Ginny smugly. "I trust her."

Ginny shook her head. "Right. You two are going to explain all that to me right now. The three of you are playing some freaky game, and I can see it, but I don't know the rules, the object or how to tell who's winning."

Hermione and Pansy smiled at each other. "If we play the game right, we both win," Hermione said, "just in different ways." She blushed. "If you ever tell your family that I told you any of what you're about to hear, I'll create a new Hex, just for you."

Ginny blinked. "Why would I do that? Every time any of my family think about me growing up, they have hives and try to make me ten years younger."

Hermione blushed again. "Pansy and I are into a sexual lifestyle called BSDM. Specifically, I am a Dominant, commonly called a Top and Pansy is a submissive, commonly called a bottom."

Hermione looked at Ginny. "Despite what uninformed people say, this is just another way of expressing trust and love. It is not freaky, Miss Weasley, nor is it perverted. It is different, but the first rule is Safe, Sane and Consensual. This means that everything we do will be safely done, so that there is no danger of anyone getting hurt," Hermione was interrupted.

"At least, not any more than they want to be hurt. I love a good spanking." Pansy smiled dreamily.

Ginny blinked at Pansy. "That's different, for sure. I've never liked them myself," she said neutrally.

Hermione cleared her throat. "If Miss Potter over there can keep the asides to a low roar, I'll continue. Sane means we don't do things that are nutters. We don't suspend the bottom from a broomstick at five hundred metres, for example. Consensual means that everything we do is between adults, and agreed on by all the parties involved before we do anything. Pansy may or may not be into edge play, which involves using a knife, but I am not, and I doubt Harry will be, so there will never be anything like that. Since they are unable to consent, children and animals are out as well."

Hermione and Pansy told Ginny some more about the D/s lifestyle and when they were done, Ginny just shook her head. "I know you don't like this word, Hermione, but it still sounds freaky to me. I'll stick with kisses and regular sex, thank you."

Pansy shrugged. "It's not for everyone, or it wouldn't be an alternate lifestyle, as Hermione calls it." She looked at Hermione. "You never did explain what that meant."

"It means that D/s is something different, that it takes an open mind to accept, much like the morals of your Windenmere families."

The three girls jumped, as they hadn't expected Harry to join their conversation. "Harry, how do you feel?" asked Hermione and all three of them waited for Harry's answer.

Harry turned his head to look at them. He looked terrible, with a reddish tinge around his eyes, where the blood vessels in the eyeballs had popped. Moody had assured them that that effect would fade away after a few days. "I feel like I've just gone head to head with Voldemort."

Hermione nodded. "You should, because in your mind, that is exactly what you did." She frowned. "You've been unconscious for nearly five hours, Harry, and Moody showed us the recording of your fight in the Tester."

Harry was about to say something when Ginny crawled up next to him and cuddled carefully into his side. "That was a beautiful use of the Bat-Bogey Hex, Harry." She kissed him on the cheek.

Hermione crawled up on his other side. "I thought what you did with Snape was a bit over the top." She kissed Harry. "But it was a well done Cross-Species Transfiguration."

Harry smiled at her. "Does that mean I can get away with more, if I do very well?" He looked at Ginny. "I don't suppose you could ask Moody if we can save the image of Voldemort fighting the Hex. That picture in the paper would infuriate Moldywart." Ginny grinned at him as Harry looked at Pansy. "And what did you think?"

Pansy looked at the other girls. "You want my honest opinion, or the public one?"

Harry looked at the other two girls. "They already know we're playing a game for the rest of the world, as long as it's just us four, be honest."

Pansy nodded. "What the hell were you thinking?" she demanded. "You could have killed yourself there, and then where would the rest of us be? Voldemort would not have died, you would be gone, and with you goes all hope of killing Voldemort." Pansy came to stand at the foot of the bed staring at Harry. "We need you, Harry. Without you, we cannot win. You absolutely must live until Voldemort is truly dead."

Ginny and Hermione were staring at Pansy. Harry spoke up with a slight smile on his face. "Ladies, meet the real Pansy. She needs me, and she never forgets what is important to her. That we can work together is good, but if it would help her family more to jump ship, she'd be gone in an instant." Harry smiled at Pansy. "I like it. It's a refreshing bit of honesty from someone who doesn't really care if I live or die, except as how it affects her plans."

"Admire my morals later, Harry," Pansy said, frowning at him. "Right now, I want you to remember that you are the most important person in our campaign to destroy Voldemort, and I will do things to you if you keep risking your life before we can kill the enemy."

Harry sighed. "I didn't have a choice just then, Pansy. You saw what I was facing. Death Wankers all around, and Voldemort threatening everybody I know." Harry thought back, to the instant that he'd made his decision to do whatever he'd done. "I didn't have any choice but to try and take out as many of them as I could. I was also hoping to reduce Voldemort back to his bodiless state. If I did that, it would give you time to find a way to contain him since you can't kill him."

Pansy crawled up on Harry, straddling him, a position he normally liked. It was not as much fun with her holding him by the hair and staring intensely at him. "Listen to me, Harry Potter. That was a test, but if you ever find yourself in a simular situation in real life, I expect you to find a way to live, not just destroy the enemy, do you understand me?" She looked at him. "Right now, Harry, there are more than three hundred people counting on you to keep them out of Voldemort's mercies. You absolutely cannot die before you kill him."

Harry nodded and pulled Ginny a bit closer. He'd felt her tensing up as Pansy berated him and he turned to look at her. "Calm down. Pansy is offering her outlook on the matter, an opinion motivated only by her needs, not by like or dislike of me, and not influenced by her feelings. It is an honest viewpoint, and it balances out the opinions of my friends."

Hermione frowned. "I hate to say it, Ginny, but Harry and Pansy are right. We're so used to Harry coming out of everything he does alive, that we forget that some of the things he does are impossible for normal people."

Harry looked offended. "I am a normal person."

All three girls just looked at him, as if he'd announced that he was going to marry Snape. Harry looked stubborn. Ginny ran her fingers through his hair. "No, Harry, you're not, and you never will be normal. You're special Harry, to all of us, for different reasons, and to the public for yet more reasons." She moved closer to him, looking up in his face. "I know you, Harry, and you've saved my life and my soul, in first year. You're far more than normal."

Hermione was the next one to speak. "She's right, Harry. You are special, not for what your mother did, but because of who you are, and what you do. Very people would throw themselves on a Troll, fight a Basilisk, prevent Pettigrew's death, or battle Voldemort repeatedly, and you have done all of that and more." She smiled at him, no longer hiding the love she had for him. "Plus, you're warm and caring, willing to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, until they prove to be untrustworthy, and you forgive amazingly easily. You are so much more than most people, that you are special."

Pansy had shifted so she was laying comfortably across Harry and Hermione's legs. "As much as it pains me to admit it, Harry, they're right, and for the average person, who doesn't know you, like me just two weeks ago, you're a legend for so many other reasons. You stopped Voldemort at one, battled him again, escaped, bringing back Cedric's body, battled him again, and this time, he fled. People keep watching you do the impossible, and soon, you're going to be as much a legend of the Wizard world as Dumbledore was."

Harry laid there quietly for a long time, mulling over what the girls had said and enjoying the ladies curled up around him. "I'm never going to have a quiet, normal life, am I? Even after Moldywart is gone, people will be bringing me other things they think I should deal with."

Hermione sighed. "You're going to be the next Dumbledore, Harry. I think you may even be greater than he was someday."

Harry frowned at her. "What do you mean?"

Hermione sighed again, brushing her hair back and looking at Harry earnestly. "Harry, I trusted him, I won't deny it, but the last year or so, I realized that he'd forgotten that people are just that, people. He was locked in a mind set that said everyone would come down on one side or the other of any question. He trusted Snape to change when Snape came to him, and set him up as a spy, never dreaming that Snape would betray him." She looked aside. "And that's not mentioning leaving you with the Dursley's and never checking on you. He assumed they would take good care of you. He trusted people too much."

Harry frowned. "I will grant that he made mistakes, but how will that make me better than him?"

Ginny was still running her fingers through his hair. "Because Professor Dumbledore kept all his great plans to himself, and didn't have anyone to give him other viewpoints, but you actively seek out other views and people that don't automatically agree with you. Ron does, except in matters that concern his specialities, but the rest of us will tell you when we think you're wrong." She grinned at Pansy. "Especially the Slytherin over there. She's more than willing to give you a piece of her mind when she thinks she's right."

Harry sighed again. "Why me? What did I do, that everybody has to depend on me?"

Pansy shook her head. "Nothing. You were chosen by fate before you were even born. In every generation, there are a few like that. If Binns would teach something besides the goblin rebellions, you'd know that. Dumbledore, and before him, there are a line of names that stretch all the back to Merlin and beyond. Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, to name the ones you know, and dozens more. In every generation, there are those who want to rule and those that want to stop them. They are heroes, not because they want to be, but because they can't walk away when someone abuses another person."

Hermione nodded. "You didn't choose this life, Harry, but it's what you have. You can spend it griping about your lot in life, or accept it and make the best of it." She hugged him. "It could have been better, and Ginny and I will do our best to make sure that it is far better in the future."

Harry pondered their words for a long time, until the girls thought he'd fallen asleep. "Well," he said finally, "if I'm going to be the great hero of this era, I think I'd better get up and start learning how to be a hero."

The girls didn't move. "Sorry, Harry," said Ginny, sounding not at all sorry, "but we've been ordered to keep you lying down and quiet until at least dawn, when Moody's healer will examine you again."

Harry sighed. "Why do healers always want to keep you overnight?"

Ginny pulled his head around. "Because you nearly died, you stupid prat," she said, tears starting in her eyes, "and we care about you."

Pansy nodded from her position across Harry's legs. "Why do you think I jumped on you with both feet, Harry? You used more magic than anyone I've ever heard of. You used so much, in fact, that if you didn't have a friend that loves you, loves everyone, you would be a dying Muggle right now."

Harry blinked at them, his face going through an amazing range of emotions. "But, I'm not feeling that bad," he protested weakly.

Hermione led him through what had happened from their viewpoint, and what she'd learned since then about using your magic. "Magic is like any of your body's other resources, Harry. If you use your muscles too hard, you tear them. If you put too heavy of a load on your heart, it stops. If you use too much of your magic, it can't replenish itself, and it's gone."

She draped an arm across him. "When that happens, you become a Muggle, unable to do magic at all, and you start to die, because Wizards are born a slight bit differently than Muggles. Our immune systems, every part of your body uses the magic somehow, and without it, you're missing an essential element. You will begin to die, like a Muggle not getting the right foods."

Hermione sighed. "You have no idea how much that thought makes me want to put a dozen Wizards and Witches through a battery of tests," she said, dreamily staring at something only she could see. "DNA, to start, MRIs, CAT scans."

Pansy and Ginny were staring at Hermione in confusion, and Harry, who knew vaguely about such things from the news, was smiling. "Hermione, I think that might violate the Secrecy laws just a bit."

Hermione sighed again. "I know it would," she said wistfully, "but just one Kirlian photograph would tell me so much, I think, especially if it was taken during casting."

Harry just smiled at her. "I'd rather talk about something else. For example, on my birthday, I'm leaving the Dursley house forever. Where are we going to live? I need to get it warded before then, if I can."

Ginny smirked. "Well, Mr. Potter-Black-Montrose, Slayer of Dark Wizards and All Around Hero," she said, the capitals plain in her title for Harry, "I think we'll just have to built a place that matches your magnificence. I'm sure Dobby would be glad to built you a House to match your stature in his eyes." Ginny was laughing by the time she finished.

Hermione grinned. "I can see that house now. Five hundred metres long and twice as high, floating directly above the Ministry of Magic, with a private Quidditch Pitch and stands big enough to hold the World Cup in."

Pansy snickered. "Let's not forget the greenhouses, private lake and anything else Harry Potter Sir could ever need or want."

Harry sighed. "I'd never get the Weasley's off my Pitch, and Dobby would add a library with every book ever written in it, so I'd never see Hermione." He looked at Pansy. "And what would you want in this Magnificent Manor? What do you like more than anything?"

Pansy blinked, and blushed. "I don't know. I don't have obsessions like these two."

Harry pulled her up, searching her eyes with his, sympathy plain in his eyes. "Everyone has something they would rather be doing. You just never had a chance to find out what yours is, between Dark Twits and hiding your true allegiance. We will change that, I promise."

Pansy was caught in Harry's eyes, green and caring, no magic in them at all, except the magic of a good person, who cares about people, and the thought came to her mind that it would not be a bad thing to wake up to those eyes every morning for the rest of her life. She shook her head, pulling back. It was a nice thought, but Harry was just another task for the family. She could pretend, but there were two Witches who loved him already, and who were more than capable of protecting their claim. "We'll see, Harry."

_**OoOoOoO Ron Weasley, Omega Hall, Monday Morning. OoOoOoO**_

Ron had been given a Portkey that brought him to the same small room Shacklebolt had brought him to. A minute later, the door had opened and Algernon had beckoned him into the hallway beyond that. "Good morning, Ron. You will start your training today. I know you spent yesterday at the Inferno, so you understand that we have ways to test you and train you that are far quicker than books."

Ron looked at him, thinking hard. "If you keep following Harry, he's going to catch," Ron trailed off at the look Algernon gave him. "You're not following Harry." They continued down the hallway while Ron thought about it.

They reached a small room with a table and four chairs around a table. Ron was still thinking about how they knew that Harry had been at the Inferno. "If you're not following Harry, and Moody believes the Inferno is warded, that only leaves the travel. You have to have a way to detect the use of the Floo, or a spell on a destination."

Algernon smiled. "Not bad, considering you don't know about even half of our capabilities yet. We have a trace on certain destinations, that records the magical signature of every person that goes to that place. While we don't know everyone that was with you, Mr. Potter, Miss Granger and yourself have your auras recorded, simply because you've been too highly visible not to take that precaution, especially since you have a high probability of running into Death Eaters."

Ron nodded. "So, anytime we go to one of your tagged destinations, you'll know it."

"Correct. Now, before we start your training, I need to get a few things straight with you. You will be given a great deal of information during your training. You may not tell anyone about it, although you can use it in making any plans you make with Mr. Potter. I will give you a sheet of information you can tell Mr. Potter. You could just give him the sheet, although you may prefer to tell him some of it and hold other things back until they are needed. That is your decision."

Algernon sat down and invited Ron to sit with a gesture. As they sat down, a box rose out of the table in front of both of them and Ron sighed. "Not another Magic test."

Algernon shook his head. "This is not the same thing that Mr. Moody used on you. This box is similar, but it changes memories. This time, I want to see about your learning curve, so we will be using one of your memories. We're going to relive the Ministry incident Harry led you into."

Ron winced. "Not one of my better scenes."

Algernon shrugged. "Given the restraints the six of you were under, the lack of training and your youth, you did quite well. That was why we agreed to take you on." He pointed at the box. "You will be seeing this from Harry's eyes, and anything you tell your team to do, that they are capable of doing, they will do. At the same time, I'll be running the Death Eaters, making changes based on your actions, just as the enemy will in real situations."

He rolled his neck. "You don't have to win this time. I just want to see how much you learned from the experience. If you put your wand hand in the box in front of you, we will begin."

Ron took a deep breath and put his hand in the box.

He blinked to see himself standing in front of him, until he remembered that he was seeing this through Harry's eyes. The six of them were trying to mount the Thestrals. "Hold up one minute," Harry/Ron said, remembering that trip. "It's going to be cold, we need warm clothing or spells that will last the entire flight."

Ron began thinking about what they had done from this point, and what he wanted to change.

_**OoOoOoO Ginny, The Shades of Grey office, Monday Morning. OoOoOoO**_

Ginny was reading the mail that had come in just two days. It was her job to read it and sort it out. Some of it would go to Harry, some to Mr. Sharpstar and the junk was hers to do with as she wished. Most of it was junk, in her opinion, other businesses welcoming them to Diagon Alley and offering their services.

She looked up as an owl swooped in the special window that was charmed to open automatically for any owl. She smiled at the owl. It was one of the solid black ones that the Parkinson's seemed to have a never ending supply of. This one came over to her, holding its leg out and waiting patiently.

Ginny unhooked the small message and pointed at the owl perches lined up against the wall. "Water is over there," she informed the owl, using the tone she'd heard Harry using with Hedwig so often. "You may rest and have an owl treat." The owl flew over to the perches and appeared to survey them, finally choosing the one closest to the door.

Ginny looked at the message. It was from somebody named Eustice Parkinson and Ginny opened it.

"_Miss Weasley,_

_It has been decided that the Shades of Grey company needs one of the special owls we breed, to be used for correspondence relating to a certain project. The owl's name is Tammarrion and he will stay with you at the office._

_You may note some odd things about him over the next few days, but do not be alarmed, it is simply the result of breeding owls specifically for carrying Wizard mail. He is far more intelligent than a normal owl and will accept a great many letters that normal owls could not deliver. He can, for instance deliver a letter to any of the families currently involved in this project, despite the normal problems of delivering to a protected person."_

Ginny looked at the owl again. Eustice Parkinson was claiming that this owl could deliver mail to a person hidden by a Fidelius Charm, something Ginny had never heard of. The owl looked at Ginny and hooted softly. Ginny smiled at it and went back to the letter.

_**OoOoOoO Harry and diverse others, Harry's room, Monday morning. OoOoOoO**_

Harry was eating at his own table,something he was very thankful for. Moody's healer was an older man, and he'd been an Auror healer during the first half of the Voldemort war. He was good at his job, but his bedside manner was a bit rusty, to say the least. "Damn fool idiots trying to destroy themselves and everything around them," had been one of the nicer things he'd said while he examined Harry.

Harry looked up at his companions. He grinned at the Weasleys, taking up most of one side of his table, interspersed with the ladies several of them were dating. Ron was already gone, off to where ever he was going, but Bill and Fleur were chatting quietly with Katie and Angelina while Fred and George looked at some papers they had.

Harry looked past them to Shacklebolt and Wilkes, chatting with Moody and one of the trainers from yesterday, who Harry vaguely remembered as Mrs. Jeanne Jemappes, a Dark Arts teacher from Beaubaxtons. She was a tall blonde woman that Fleur respected greatly, and that even Moody listened to with respect.

On the other side of the table were Lee Jordan, Neville, Luna, Hermione, Pansy, Diggle and Miranda's boyfriend, Lukas Montrose, who sat with two empty seats between them. Harry frowned at those seats. He saw the plates in front of them and watched as a glass was suddenly half empty.

"Would someone mind introducing me to the two guests at my table?" Harry asked mildly.

Fred and George grinned at the rest of the table. "We told you he'd catch on without any problem."

Fred grinned at Harry, saying "You know Miss Tonks and Mr. Lupin, I think."

As he spoke, they faded into sight and Remus looked at Harry. "How did you know there was somebody there?"

Harry explained how he'd noticed that the Fidelius Charm didn't hide the results of your actions. "I saw one of the glasses suddenly drain, without me seeing it move."

Remus nodded. "We'll have to remember that, if we're using the Charm against Voldemort. That might save a few of our people."

Harry looked around. "Speaking of Voldemort, Fred, tell the rest of us about your group yesterday."

Fred looked at the group. "Narcissa and Draco were in Diagon Alley yesterday and the day before. They appeared to be scouting the Alley. One of our group saw them, using a new thing we have invented, that pierces illusions. By the time they got us and we got back, they were gone. That happened twice, once each day."

Moody frowned. "That's not a lot to take to the Aurors," he said dubiously. "They might not do anything."

Harry thought about it for a few minutes, wishing he had Ron here for the planning. "Shacklebolt, take any of our people you want for the main force. Your job is to respond to their appearance and destroy them."

The Auror frowned, thinking about his orders, and decided that he'd worry about it later. After all, Harry would take care of his people, and he was one of them. "Who do you want with you, Harry?"

"Hermione, Pansy, Luna and" Harry frowned. With Ron gone and the twins in charge of the Diagon Alley group, he didn't have anyone to watch Luna as she healed. He couldn't take any of the experienced fighters, or any of Moody's as they might be more important fighting, depending on how many Death Wankers showed up. "Neville."

Pardon me, Arry," Fleur said, "but I will stay with you, I think. I am not familiar with ze Alley, and I would like to help."

Harry nodded, and smiled. "If you would stay with Luna and Neville, and watch her back, please? She is our only healer right now." Harry looked at Moody after she nodded at him. "Moody, would you and yours care to join the fun?"

Moody snorted. "As if you could keep us out of it."

Harry grinned. "I didn't think so, but I have to try and pretend I'm in charge here. If you would gather in the Leaky Cauldron, we'll gather the other half of our forces somewhere else. I will be in Mr. Sharpstar's office, after we get Ginny."

Pansy frowned, biting her lip. "Harry, we can get a few more fighters, and a dozen healers." She held up a hand. "The problem is, all of them are duellists, and the healers are not trained for combat."

The three Aurors winced, and Harry frowned. Duellists would fight one on one, which would not be good. "Send for the healers. Fred, George, we'll put them in your shop with three of your people to protect them, and they stay there until someone comes to get them. We don't need them running around in the middle of a fight. If any of your people have to have a healer right then, we'll send Luna, or if possible, get them to the shop."

Auror Amanda Wilkes frowned. "What if the attack doesn't happen today?"

Harry shrugged. "We'll work something out. We need a fast way to respond to any Death Wanker attacks anyway. I want to hurt them every time they poke their noses out of their holes, and I want everyone to know who's doing it."

George grinned. "We can help you with that. The first half of your project is ready."

Harry smiled. "Beautiful. How much do I owe you, and how long will it take to teach it to everyone?"

Fred and George smiled innocently and Wilkes smirked. "Well, development costs, time invested, it just happens to come to two Knuts."

Harry stared at them and then looked at Amanda. "You're corrupting my partners," he said.

Nearly everyone at the table snickered, giggled or outright laughed at that. "Like anything an honest Auror could do would corrupt those two more than they are," Moody said.

Harry sighed. "Just get started teaching the spell, if you don't mind."

Fred stood up. "This is a fairly simple spell," he began as the rest of the people around the table sat up and watched him.

_**OoOoOoO Ginny, The Shades of Grey office. OoOoOoO**_

Ginny looked up as two people entered the office. "Hello Mr. Sharpstar," she said, looking at the other man.

"Good morning, Miss Weasley, this is Mr. Michaels, who will be looking for the victims of the war for awhile and using the office."

Ginny stood up and held out her hand. "How do you do?"

Mr. Michaels shook her hand looking at her curiously. "How did you get this job?" he asked, wondering how an underage Witch had gotten such an easy job.

Ginny smiled softly. "The company's owner thinks that he can keep me safe by putting me here, I think, but him and I will discuss that at the proper time."

Michaels nodded slowly as pieces began falling into place. "Well, we're going to be fairly busy for awhile," he warned her. "I have a lot of reports and back copies of the Daily Prophet coming in, and we'll be going through them for names of people still alive after Death Eater attacks. There will not be many of those, but after we're gotten that list, we'll need a list of the people left behind after an attack, and that's going to be a bit harder."

Ginny nodded. "We'll need a system. Would you mind if I got some help creating it?"

Mr. Sharpstar looked at Ginny. "Planning to get Miss Granger-Black's help?"

Ginny grinned. "Of course. She's the single most organized person I know. She'll have something in place in a couple of hours, instead of the days it would take me." Ginny looked over as the fireplace flared.

Miranda came out, stepping out quickly and to one side, watching the people in the room. She put the small vial of red powder back in her pocket and nodded at Ginny and Mr. Sharpstar. A few seconds later, people started coming out of the Floo. Hermione was first and Miranda reached over and pulled her out of the way just as Harry stumbled out of the Floo.

Pansy, Neville and Luna followed them and Fleur stepped out gracefully. Ginny already knew something was going on. Harry's magic was exploring the people around him again and everyone looked tense.

Harry looked around and started issuing orders. "Neville, Luna, take Fleur and go get the other healers from the Leaky Cauldron. If they need any supplies, stop at an apothecary and get them, I will pay for them later."

"Hermione, make a dozen Portkeys to St. Mungo's, just in case we need them." Harry saw the stranger and his eyes went out of focus for a second. He blinked, regarding the man. "I assume you work with Mr. Sharpstar, but we're going to need these offices for awhile. You can stay or leave, but stay out of the way."

Michaels looked at Harry again. His eyes were bright and a fire was starting to burn deep inside. Harry was dressed in the solid black he favored when one of the girls didn't make him put something else on and Michaels felt an involuntary shiver run down his spine. This was a man who knew what he wanted, and would accomplish it, no matter the cost. "I may not be a great duellist, Mr. Potter, but I think I can defend the office while you're dealing with the Death Eaters. How long do we have?"

Harry shook his head. "We don't know. It may not even happen today. I hope it does, and fairly soon, simply because I have a great many things to do today and promises to keep."

Michaels nodded. "Right. Miss Weasley, if you would make a pot of tea, and see about light foods for everyone, we'll settle down and try to wait calmly." He grinned wryly. "I am familiar with waiting, and I can help you, so that your nerves aren't on edge when the event does happen."

Harry nodded. "Take care of it then. Miranda, watch them please. Pansy, come with me, I want to check on Fred and George and see if Moody's group has arrived yet."

Harry kissed Hermione briefly and Ginny as well. Pansy was about to pout when Harry kissed her as well. Ginny and Hermione looked at each other. The difference between Pansy's public and private persona was a bit bewildering.

The two of them left as Hermione went back to making Portkeys and Ginny examined the supplies. She frowned. The kitchen here had not been meant to feed a group this large and if there were more people coming, she'd had to get some more food. She looked around. "Mr. Sharpstar, may I speak with you for a minute?"

She told him what the problem was and he nodded. "We have an account you can use right down the street." He gave her directions and Ginny looked around. Mr. Michaels was doing something with his wand and Hermione was busy making Portkeys. She told Hermione where she was going and Hermione nodded.

Ginny stepped outside and looked both ways. She didn't see anything strange and started down the street toward the shop she'd been told about. Ginny went inside and got enough food to feed a Weasley family dinner. She figured that should feed any ordinary group, and if they needed more, the store was not that far away.

Coming out of the store, Ginny hesitated and looked back. "If you hear a lot of loud sounds, you might want to take cover," she warned the storekeeper.

He looked at her curiously and then frowned. "I know you, you're one of the kids that was with Harry Potter, when he battled You-Know-Who in the Ministry." The man froze, staring at Ginny. "Is You-Know-Who coming here?"

"We don't know yet, but it's possible," Ginny admitted. "We have a few people waiting for him, if he does show up, so just stay under cover, OK?"

The man nodded. "Thank you."

Ginny hurried up the street, watching the people around her. If anyone tried anything, she was going to hex them first and ask questions later. She made it back to the office without a problem though, just a few minutes before Harry came in with Pansy.

Harry looked around, about to ask where Neville was when they came in. Neville, Luna and Fleur had a dozen people with them, and all of them had small satchels. Luna and Neville were carrying bags from the Apothecary. "Sorry it took so long, but we stopped to get a few things."

Harry nodded. "Moody's people are covering the Leaky Cauldron end of the Alley, and the twins have the other end covered. We're stuck in the middle, but Shacklebolt's people are moving to Mr. Sharpstar's office, and we'll hit the Wankers from two sides."

Harry looked at the healers. "You will stay here, and we will bring you any injured, unless they can't be moved. In that case, Luna, you and Fleur will follow Neville. Neville, I'm counting on you to keep them safe."

Neville stood a bit straighter. "You can count on me, Harry."

Harry looked at his ladies. "You three will do the same things you always do," he said but before he could go any further, Pansy interrupted him.

"You are not going to rush out there, Harry. You have things you have to do, and leading the battle is impossible from the inside of it. If Voldemort shows up, we'll need you to be fresh."

Harry looked at her coldly. "I will do what needs to be done to save people. My people first, and then everyone who is not a Death Wanker. You will not try to stop me. You can cover me, protect me, even scream at me, but you will not try to stop me." Harry was staring at Pansy, and Pansy felt a flash of fear. Not that Harry would hurt her, she knew he wouldn't, but that she would do something that caused Harry to reconsider their deal.

Hermione stepped up and placed a hand on Harry's arm. "Relax, Harry," she said soothingly, "Pansy doesn't know you that well yet. She doesn't know that you couldn't stay here while people were fighting for you."

Pansy frowned at Harry and Hermione, wanting to remind them that Harry had to live, and then she looked at Harry again. The fire was burning deep in his eyes again, banked, but waiting to explode, when it was needed. When Harry was needed. She thought about how Harry had been raised, and how it would give him both a burning need to prove himself and a fear of losing people he cared about, who cared about him.

Pansy would have an easier time convincing the sun not to rise than she would convincing Harry to stay behind. "You had better be careful, Harry," she said finally, "because if you allow something to happen to you, I'm going to tell Professor McGonagall about your secret crush on her."

Harry, Ginny and Hermione all looked sick. "That is just eww," Ginny said.

"I might have put it a bit differently," Harry said, shivering at the thought of waking up with the Gryffindor House head like he did the three girls, "but I agree with the sentiment."

Hermione frowned at Harry. "I hope you don't feel that way in twenty years or so. I fully intend on being the next Gryffindor house head if you're not."

Everyone turned to stare at Hermione, who looked back. "What? Did you think I was going to be a housewife? I want to teach, and the pinnacle of teaching in Hogwarts is being a House head. Harry will be Headmaster of course, after he's the DADA Professor for a few years, but he'll be a better flying instructor."

Harry smiled at Hermione. "And what will Ginny and Pansy be doing?"

Hermione blushed. "I have not yet factored them into the picture yet. I started daydreaming about this years ago, but it would be nice."

Harry thought about it for a second. "You know," he said in a surprised tone, "it's not that bad of an idea, really. I did like teaching the DA."

"And you were good at it," said Ginny thoughtfully, "but Ron was hoping you'd be the Seeker for the Cannons while he played Keeper."

Harry smiled. "I like Quidditch, but every time I play a game, something happens, and that would get old quick. I may play for a year or two, if someone offers me a chance after this current problem is over."

Before they could continue their discussion, Lee Jordan came in the door. He was tense, and he had his wand tightly grasped in one hand. "Fred says we need to work on a communication system. We have a dozen Death Eaters hiding at our end of the Alley, and from the way they're acting, they're waiting for something."

Harry grinned tightly. "Then let's give them something to see." He looked around. "Pansy, Hermione, Ginny, you three come with me. Lee, go back to the shop and tell them to be ready to move on my signal. We'll open the game this time."

Harry laid out what he was going to do swiftly and looked at Neville. "Floo over to the Leaky Cauldron and tell Moody what's going on. Tell him we're starting in fifteen minutes."

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Ginny, Hermione, Miranda and Pansy, Diagon Alley. OoOoOoO**_

Harry was walking with the three girls and having a great time. He had Ginny's arm on one side and Hermione's on the other side, with Pansy linked to Hermione. The four of them were doing, or trying to do, a Muggle dance called the bunny hop.

Hermione was directing the dance line, but not having a lot of success, mostly because they couldn't stay in step, and when they did fall into unison, usually by accident, Harry couldn't dance for anything.

They were having a great deal of fun though, ignoring everyone around them and laughing a great deal. Miranda was walking behind them, with the pained expression of a woman being forced to associate with lunatics. Harry was looking around occasionally, using the Charms built into his glasses and the Greysight to look for the enemy.

He found them finally, just a few doors down from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and passed that information to the others under cover of instructions and kisses.

Desmond Blackstone was watching Harry Potter acting like an idiot and smirking. The fool had no idea that they were about to lay waste to Diagon Alley, leaving only the Daily Prophet and Gringotts alone. The other teams would be in position in less than three minutes and then they would drop the illusions and be revealed in all their Death Eater glory. Panic and fear would begin, and then they were to destroy as much as possible.

Lord Voldemort wanted mass mayhem and destruction and Desmond was only too happy to provide it for the Lord. He was watching Potter and planning the attack when everything went to hell.

_**OoOoOoO Moody and crew, The Leaky Cauldron. OoOoOoO**_

Moody had listened to Neville's terse report and sent him back to his post. Moody filled the others in and they started slipping out, two by two, heading for the Alley. The first two were barely out the back door when the Hounds of Hades broke loose.

_**OoOoOoO Shacklebolt's team, Diagon Alley. OoOoOoO**_

Kingsley Shacklebolt was frowning at his team, examining them. He knew how Tonks and Wilkes would react, of course, as they were both trained Aurors. The Weasley brothers, Charlie and Bill, had the solid look of professionals, and given that one was a curse breaker and the other a dragon handler, he wasn't too worried about them. Remus Lupin was a good man, and would be an asset.

The others though, were from the old Order of the Phoenix, and they might be a different story. Diggle was a weak fighter at best, more suited for intelligence gathering, and the rest of Professor Dumbledore's people were the same way.

He wasted a second wishing he had Moody or Miranda here and then looked at the ones he did have. Molly Weasley was here, and after the incident at the Burrow, Shacklebolt wasn't going to worry about her. She would be looking for revenge. Arthur was a quiet man, and Shacklebolt didn't know him well enough to say how he'd do. The two of them would make a good team though, having been married all those years. He put Mrs. Jemappes with the older Weasleys, since she didn't know the Alley that well.

He was interrupted by a knock at the door of the office. He opened it and a dozen people came in. In front was a girl he recognized well. Susan Bones was his former superior's niece after all, and she'd been around the Ministry enough. "Hello, Mr. Shacklebolt. Hermione thought you might like to have a few trained people with you. All of my people were in the DA, and are trained by Harry."

Shacklebolt looked at the kids and was about to say something about how young they were when Susan spoke again. "All of us fought at Hogwarts, Mr. Shacklebolt, and acquitted ourselves as well as any. Don't look at our age, look at our experience. All of us have faced werewolves and Death Eaters without freezing or dying." She grinned at him. "Besides, who else is going to come help you?"

He sighed, looking at the group. Susan he knew, but the rest were students he'd never met. He looked at Susan. "Have you been told about Harry's rules about fighting?"

She frowned, staring at him. "Unless he taught them to the DA, no."

Shacklebolt grinned. "Harry doesn't like to lose people, so we're not fighting fair anymore. Gang up on a Death Eater, and keep hammering him until he's out of the fight for good. Incapacitated is good, dead is better. We don't leave any of our people behind. Understand?"

Susan looked startled. "Harry is ramping it up a notch, isn't he? I can live with that." She looked at the people that had come with her, standing there watching her. "Anyone have a problem with the rules?"

They looked at each other and back at her. "No." Stephen Corner, Michael's younger brother grinned at her. "In fact, I think I can live with those rules," he said, "even if they're against the Duelling code."

Susan looked back at Shacklebolt. "I've been thinking about what we're going to do since Hermione Flooed me. You know the people you have, and I know my people. What do you say we each take a side of the street, and clean up our own side? That way there is no confusion about orders." She saw his look and shrugged. "Aunt Amelia spoke often enough about the job, I had to learn something."

Shacklebolt smiled sadly at her. "She was a great woman, and she will be missed."

Susan looked up, and her eyes were fey, as was the smile she wore. "And avenged."

Shacklebolt looked at the strange smile she wore and was about to say something when multiple Apparation cracks sounded outside, and screams started.

They were headed for the door when the inhuman wail sounded outside.

_**OoOoOoO Harry and the girls, Diagon Alley. OoOoOoO**_

Harry waited a few seconds longer and then the four of them acted. Four wands came up and two voices shouted curses while the other two put up shields over the four of them, and then joined the other voices in cursing the enemy.

Desmond went down in the first wave of Hexes, as Ginny showed off a new spell she'd learned from Charlie. '_Concussion_' was a high powered spell, designed to knock out or stop a dragon. What it did to the thinner skin and smaller bones of a human was ugly, as Desmond was literally and liberally splashed over his associates.

Ginny shuddered as she saw the results, but her voice didn't change as she targeted the next Death Eater. She did use a different spell though.

The Death Eaters, not used to being attacked, and very surprised by having the remains of their leader strewn over them like so much strawberry jam, hesitated for an instant before bringing their wands up, and that was long enough for Harry's spell to land among them.

"Bite them," Harry called in Parseltongue to the snake he'd conjured in the middle of the Death Eaters, and the snake obeyed, biting the nearest one. Harry had been imagining a poisonous snake when he cast the spell, and that was exactly what he got. The Australian Sea Snake is accounted to be one of the most poisonous snakes in the world, and Harry had conjured a forty centimetre one.

The first Death Eater bitten started screaming as the poison ate at him, and the confusion grew in their ranks as some tried to fight the Wizards and some of them concentrated on the snake. Three Death Eater fell to their own people as curses flung at the snake in haste missed.

It took less than nine seconds from the first curse for the Death Eaters to lose half their number, and the defenders in the WWW were barely starting out the door when the snake bit the second of its victims.

With the odds changing dramatically, the Death Eaters tried to show discretion and flee the snake and the exploding curses Harry was sending their way now. They quickly found out that someone had put up wards against Apparation and suddenly, there were only two Death Eaters standing. They'd finally gotten the snake, and they were hiding behind a rapidly weakening shield. They looked at each other and one of them dropped his wand. "I surrender," he called, and the other followed suit.

Harry looked at them, his wand pointed at them, and the two Death Eaters paled. Harry was not lowering his wand at all. Hermione looked at Harry and years of watching him allowed her to almost read the thoughts he was having.

Harry looked at the two scum sucking evil things in front of him and seriously thought about cursing them anyway. He was stopped by a warm hand on his arm and a voice in his ear. "Harry, you have to give them one chance, and there are people watching us that are not our people."

Harry looked around. Nearly thirty Diagon Alley storekeepers and shoppers were standing around, frozen by the violence that had erupted in their midst. The whole fight had lasted less than two minutes and none of Harry's people had so much as a scratch.

Fred and George were baring the arms of the Death Eaters, showing the Dark Mark off to the entire alley.

"You have changed, Harry." Rita Skeeter was quiet, almost subdued for nearly a whole minute as she looked at the scene, and then she turned to Harry. "Care to give me that interview now, Mr. Potter?" She directed her photographer to take pictures of the scene and turned back to Harry.

Harry was holding a shaking Ginny and barely registered the reporter. Hermione stepped up. "Your last article was not bad, and Harry is willing to grant you some limited access, provided that your writing continues to be honest, as regards Harry and his friends."

Harry looked over Ginny's head. "It wasn't? I haven't even seen it yet," he said mildly.

Hermione waved him off. "I read it this morning over breakfast, and while it was slightly speculative at the end, it was factual, except where she had questions she didn't have answers to. I'll handle the press, Harry, you worry about Ginny right now."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Hermione."

Fred and George looked at the crowd gathering and at each other. George looked at Harry. "Harry, you forgot to sign your work."

Harry turned his head and regarded the twins and the line of Death Eater bodies, some of whom were still alive, and the two prisoners. He looked down at Ginny. "Would you like to be the first?"

Ginny looked up from Harry's chest, having had started to recover from the first effects of seeing one of her spells turned a man into a fine red mist. "The first to what?"

Harry whispered something in her ear and they spoke for a second. "Remember, this is an easy spell according to Fred and George, so I know you can do it."

Ginny nodded. She raised her wand and cast the spell Harry had gone to the twins for a week ago. "_Electricus_."

A massive green lightning bolt, the same shade as Harry's eyes erupted from Ginny's wand with a loud thunderous roar, to hang over the scene.

Harry rolled his eyes. "I thought I said something tasteful and decent, to cover and destroy the Dark Mark," he chided the twins.

"Harry, you may be"

"the best fighter in"

"the world, but we"

"are the best at"

"attracting attention"

"and this will be"

"a better image for"

"people to remember"

"in the long run."

Harry looked at the people coming out of the stores and shops along the Alley, gathering to gawk at the scene. "I hope you're right," he muttered.

_**OoOoOoO Moody's crew, The alley behind the Leaky Cauldron. OoOoOoO**_

The first two people that Moody had sent toward the alley and the brick wall that was the entrance to Diagon Alley had opened the door to find a mass of Death Eaters on the other side, with one of them just opening the wall.

Surprise didn't help anyone this time, as both sides were completely taken aback. The two retired Aurors reacted as they'd been trained, stepping aside and using the doorway for shelter as they raised their wands.

The Death Eaters in the rear had been just as surprised, but the sight of rising wands triggered their reactions, and they jumped aside to raise their own wands.

The Aurors had the advantage of partial cover, but the Death Eaters had numbers, and the two Aurors were soon down, only to have two more take their place. Moody saw what was happening and snarled. "Monroe!" he barked. "Get up here and make some space for us!"

A thin man, shorter even than Harry, and very nearly as skinny, wormed up to where he could see. "Not a problem, mate," he said gleefully. He rummaged around in his bag for a second and pulled out a strange cannister. Moody had no idea what it was, but he knew he didn't want to be caught in its effects.

Monroe giggled madly as he tapped the cannister with his wand and rolled it out among the Death Eater's feet and pulled back inside the door. The two Aurors that had been throwing spells at the Death Eaters were familiar with Monroe as well, and they pulled back, one of them putting a shield over the open door

"Pusht!" A strange thumping pop sound came from the alley, followed shortly by a hissing sound. Shortly after the hissing, the screams and cries of Death Eaters sounded. Monroe listened to the sounds coming out of the Alley, including a lot of thuds and banging as Death Eaters apparently ran into the walls and each other, trying to escape the effects of the strange cannister. He giggled and raised his wand, acting as if he was conducting the discordant sounds coming from outside.

They stopped shortly and Monroe cocked his head and cast a spell. "It's safe now. They're in no condition to bother us."

Moody stepped up to the door and looked out. All the people that had been in the alley were laying around, their bodies twisted in strange ways as if they'd been convulsing when they passed out or died, as Moody could see at least one of them with blood pouring from his mouth. "Why didn't the Ministry want to use your gadgets again?"

Monroe frowned and then pouted like a child unable to play with his toys. "They said a forty percent mortality rate was too high."

Moody stared at Monroe with his normal eye while the magical eye inspected the people in the alley. "These are Death Eaters." He looked around at his friends, the Aurors who the Ministry said were too old, too damaged or too insane to work anymore. "Anyone have a problem with a few dead ones?"

The only response he got was from the old healer that had worked on Harry at the Inferno. "I do. It's not high enough. We lost Dianne." He looked up from the Auror who had been the one to find the Death Eaters. "Have Monroe roll a few more of those things out there. Maybe we'll get them all."

Moody restrained Monroe as he giggled and reached into his pouch. "Not this time, lad. Too many witnesses."

Just then, they saw a green lightning bolt appear through the open Alley entrance. Moody stepped inside Diagon Alley and responded with another before returning to his friends.

Moody looked around at the gathering Wizards and lowered his voice. "It won't always be like this, though."

The answering smiles that comment got would have given a dragon pause.

_**OoOoOoO Shacklebolt and Susan Bones, Diagon Alley. OoOoOoO**_

The wail ended suddenly and the sounds of a voice screaming curses game from outside. Susan frowned. "I know that voice," she said and started toward the door.

Outside, a single small figure advanced toward the Death Eaters that had suddenly appeared in the Alley and the lone person was Cursing them continuously, spells flying as fast as she could draw breath.

She hit several, and actually knocked two down, but they recovered from being attacked quickly and a single Avada Kedavra flew at her.

Hannah Abbott died there, never knowing that she had managed to kill one Death Eater.

Susan and Shacklebolt rushed out in time to see her go down and Susan moaned. "Hannah," she whispered, recognizing the young girl who had lost her last family so recently.

Susan's team joined her and Shacklebolt took his people to the other side of the Alley. They looked at each other and started up the Alley.

The Death Eaters were starting the destruction Voldemort had sent them to cause, but because of Hannah's maddened attack, they were looking for trouble and the Battle of Diagon Alley began.

On one side, twenty people united only by compassion and a need to help their fellow man. On the other side, twenty people united by a desire to rule over and control others.

In a fantasy world, the good guys would win and live happily ever after.

Shacklebolt, Tonks and Wilkes were leading on the left side of the street, and managed to find cover as Curses and Hexes came their way.

Susan Bones, Stephen Corner and Dennis Creevy were leading on the right and Stephen took a second to push Dennis into cover, a second that cost him, as a cutting curse took most of his arm off. He dropped, unconscious before he hit the ground.

Dennis grabbed him and dragged him under cover. Charlie Weasley threw a Portkey across the road. "It will take him to St. Mungo's," he shouted.

Dennis nodded and set it on Corner's chest. He tapped it with his wand and the injured boy disappeared.

Susan and Cho Chang were alternating Curses as they tried to keep the Death Eaters down while Dennis dealt with Stephen.

It was a good idea for a minute, until the Death Eaters figured out that when one of them went down, the other one would pop up and throw a curse.

Cho Chang took a Killing Curse full in the face.

Shacklebolt and the two female Aurors were more cautious, popping up at random intervals and never from the same place twice. They had taken three Death Eaters down when a blood red beam caught Tonks full in the chest and she fell.

Remus Lupin saw his friend and love go down and cast a curse in the Death Eater's direction as he sprang up, rushing to Tonks. He dropped in front of her, sheltering her with his own body as he cast Curse after Curse in the direction of the enemy. Shacklebolt and Wilkes redoubled their efforts as Remus dragged Tonks back to cover, using the enhanced strength that was one of the few good things about his affliction.

He looked at Tonks, and his fear surged as he saw the hole in her chest and the blood pouring out. Remus scooped Tonks up and Apparated away.

Shacklebolt saw that and was relieved that Tonks was being looked after, but it dropped his effective forces by two. The Death Eaters were coming out on the losing end of the fight so far, but they were casting deadly curses while half of his forces, mostly the older Order of the Phoenix people, were not.

Bill Weasley was using a single Curse, and Shacklebolt didn't know what it was, but he wanted to. Anyone hit with Bill's curse simply turned to dust and drifted away in the slight breeze blowing. It was slow though and he missed more often then he hit, but he could cast it without fear of missing, as it didn't seem to affect anything not made of flesh that it hit.

Charlie was using the 'Concussion" spell Ginny had used just a minute ago in another part of the Alley, and between the two of them, the Death Eaters were beginning to concentrate on the attackers.

Explosive Hexes and deadly Curses rained down on the buildings and shields of the Light side Wizards, and the tide was slowly turning in the favor of the Death Eaters, who had far more experience in fighting than the other side. Susan lost another of her people when Jerry Bujold, fourth year Hufflepuff and member of the DA, pushed another person out of the way of a Killing Curse.

A thunderous roar caught everyone's attention, and they watched as a green lightening bolt appeared some distance away. "Yes!" cried Charlie. "Harry's won his fight."

A few seconds later, another roar announced the forming of a second bolt, in the direction of the Leaky Cauldron. "It appears Mad-Eye Moody won his fight as well."

Bill looked at Shacklebolt. "You know what this means, don't you?" he asked loudly, over the fighting. "We only have to hold the ground. The others will be coming any second now."

Lucius Malfoy heard the comment and he swore under his breath. If those things in the sky meant what they said they did, then he was about to be surrounded. On the other hand, if it was a trick, and he fled, Lord Voldemort would not be happy.

Worse yet, the fools fighting them had killed Nott and Goyle, and that crazy girl had gotten Rabin Lestrange as well. He looked around and brought his remaining forces closer together and had eight of them casting in turn at the two knots of the defenders that were here now.

That made them keep their heads down, able to get off only occasional shots, and Lucius looked around. The buildings on either side of him were burning, and there were a dozen or so dead Diagon Alley residents laying around them. They had done at least part of what they were supposed to do in the Alley.

He winced as that Weasley boy caught one of his people and the Death Eater simply vanished in a fine red mist, leaving only a pair of dragon hide boots standing in the street. The boots were filled with something red and gooey Lucius didn't want to know about.

Lucius had four of his people watching behind them, and suddenly one of them was down, gasping around a throat red with his blood.

One of the others swore and cast a curse. "It's Potter, and a whole bunch of others."

Lucius looked behind him. Potter was coming, darting from cover to cover as a dozen or more people covered his advance. With him was the Weasley girl, that Mudblood Granger, her Defender and Pansy. He sneered at the thought of that girl being anything but a man's play toy. Far behind them, he could see Mad Eye Moody leading another group this way.

Potter came closer and Lucius could see the smirk as Potter cast a curse. Lucius didn't hear the curse, but he knew what it was instantly, as a two metre snake appeared in the midst of his group. He heard Harry yell something in a sibulant language Lucius had heard too many times to mistake.

"Everyone retreat," he called, and Apparated away. Potter was here, that insane Moody was coming, and Lucius was not going to be trapped between them.

_**OoOoOoO The Order Without a Name, Diagon Alley. OoOoOoO**_

It had been nearly an hour since the last Death Eater fled, and Harry was finally getting reports on all his people.

Hermione came up with a list in her hands and a distressed look. "I have the final counts," she said slowly. "Moody lost Dianne, and captured nine Death Eaters, with five more dead."

She sighed. "Shacklebolt and Susan ran into more trouble. Hannah Abbott attacked the Death Eaters before they got there, and was killed."

Harry sighed heavily. Hermione continued. "With the Death Eaters alerted, they had the only pitched fight. They also had the largest group of Death Eaters to fight. We lost Cho Chang and Stephen Corner. He bled to death at St. Mungo's before they could help him. We also lost another young man, Jerry Bujold. Tonks is still unknown. She may or may not live out the night."

Harry paled and closed his eyes, remembering the woman he'd had a crush on and his first date with. Stephen Corner he didn't know as well, but Ginny did, and Jerry had been one of the DA. He wasn't very good, but he'd been willing to try and endlessly eager to be a part of the group.

Harry pushed all of that aside. One of his, one of his family was in the hospital tonight, holding onto her life with a thread.

Hermione touched his hand. "We have six dead there and two captured. We of course, captured nine and killed three."

"Total Death Eaters confirmed, forty-six. Of them we have twenty prisoners and eleven dead ones. The rest escaped." Hermione moved closer and wormed her way under his arm. "We lost four of ours and Tonks. Everyone else has been seen by a healer and will be fine within a week."

Harry closed his eyes. Four people that trusted him were gone. Moody looked at the young man. He had led Aurors, and he had lost Aurors, so he knew exactly what Harry was feeling right now.

He looked down the street. "Are you God, Potter?"

Harry looked at him. "No." he said, not understanding what Moody was saying.

Moody looked at him with his normal eye. "Only God can save everyone, Harry. The rest of us have to watch them go sometimes, and are left behind to wonder what we could have done to save them. Most times, the answer will be nothing. Sometimes, you will find something you could have done, and hopefully, you will learn from it." Moody looked at Harry for a second, using both eyes. "Most of the time,you'll just be spending wasted nights looking for something you could have done."

Harry stared at the bit of the Alley that had been destroyed. His people had fallen here. "Will it ever get easier?"

Moody shook his head slowly. "Only for those who are losing respect for life, Mr. Potter. Voldemort doesn't feel anything when he kills his own, but any human being with a shred of decency will always be hurt when someone they know is killed." Moody stared at the scene as the Aurors took the last of the bodies away and the Ministry cleaning crew set to work. "That they died for you, on your orders, or doing something you asked them to do, will only make it worse."

Harry watched as the Ministry erased the fight that had gone on here and had the irrational thought that Diagon Alley should look like the blasted lives of the ones that had died here for a few days at least.

Hermione was still holding Harry and she was the first to feel the tendrils of his magic. She looked up at Harry and followed his gaze. She watched as one of the Ministry people cleaned a part of the street. She looked back, finding Ginny with her eyes.

Ginny saw Hermione's look and started toward them. She understood what was happening as soon as she got close enough to feel Harry's magic exploring the people around him. Pansy saw Ginny heading for Harry and followed her until she felt the magic.

Harry ended up with all three girls clustered around him. "What's wrong, Harry?"

Harry glanced at Ginny, his eyes full of pain, guilt and a growing anger. "This is not right. People died here, gave their lives, so that all these other people can live in peace, and _they_ are erasing everything, so that it can be glossed over or forgotten."

The three girls tried, but Harry's guilt over the people that had died for him and his anger as he watched their efforts being erased combined. "I have had enough."

Harry broke free from the girls and stood in the street, his magic a visible presence around him. He looked down and something changed in him as he stared at the parchment at his feet.

"Cho Chang, Student, Killing Curse."

Harry's feelings exploded as someone he knew and cared about was reduced to a name and three words. That parchment said nothing about her intelligence, her Seeker's skills or anything that had caught his eye, and made her a person.

He knelt, unsure of what he was going to do, but knowing he had to do something. He focused on what he wanted, and released his magic, as he had in the Inferno test.

Magic poured out of Harry in waves, freezing everyone in range where they stood as the magic touched them, examined them and moved on. Some of the people it touched it did not leave, and glowing bands of light soon connected Harry to Hermione, Moody and three others Harry didn't know. One of them was the senior Ministry person cleaning the scene and the other two were Diagon Alley residents.

The rest of the people watched in awe as Harry began glowing, a rich golden colour that soon grew too bright to look at directly.

Moody, Hermione and the others felt Harry's magic touching them, reading them somehow, and then Harry screamed.

The sound was filled with anger, guilt and defiance. The magic grew, changing the glow around Harry to a white light, causing even the people that had their backs turned to close their eyes against the glare.

It disappeared in an instant, leaving everyone blinking spots from their eyes. When their vision cleared, they stood there, looking at Harry's addition to the Alley.

It was a life size statue of a dozen people, nondescript people, until you actually looked at them. They stood there, and something in the way they stood made it clear that they would not back down from anything, no matter what the cost to themselves.

Everyone who saw the statue saw different things, according to their own nature. Harry saw his parents, Cedric and Sirius, standing side by side with Cho, Stephen, Jerry and Hannah, while you could feel the presence of someone standing over them, someone that was not there. Harry thought it felt like Albus Dumbledore.

Hermione saw Cho and Hannah, Stephen and other members of the DA that were fighting the war, and she could feel Harry's presence watching over them.

Ginny saw Gideon and Fabian, uncles she'd never met, killed in the first phase of the war, along with the other people she'd known that had died. She also felt Harry standing guard over them.

Moody would never admit who he saw in the statues, but Harry suspected that he saw the Aurors that he'd buried. Moody did say he could feel Albus sheltering the statue.

Hermione broke the spell the statue caused and looked at the small silver coloured plaque in front of it. It bore just two words.

"_**Never Forget."**_

Hermione looked at the statue for a minute and then went to Harry. "How?"

Harry looked at her. He smiled sadly as he went back to studying it. "I don't know. I wanted to make sure that people remembered the cost of their freedom, and to make something that would remind them of everything that our people paid. My magic went from there."

Hermione nodded as another piece of the Harry puzzle fell into place for her. She resolved to do a bit of experimentation. This would have to resolved before Harry let loose with a less benevolent use of magic. Hermione had wished many times since viewing the Inferno test that the wards on the Inferno box had lasted long enough for her to see what Harry's magic would have done to the Death Eaters and Voldemort.

She suspected it would not have been pretty, whatever it was.

Hermione looked at the statue again and realized that it was reacting to her emotional state. She went around then, talking to everyone looking at the statue, and by the time she was done, she was certain that there was some sort of magic on the statue, that interacted with a viewer's emotions, making them feel the personalities of whomever they saw, and the price they paid for the rest of the Wizarding world.

She frowned at Harry for a minute, knowing that he had no idea how he did this. Hermione was a logical girl, far happier with the precision of Arithmancy and Runes than with Charms or Transfigurations. She could do those things, but Hermione wanted to know why and how you got a result, and it was easy to see in her preferred arts.

Harry though, was not as worried about how or why, merely about results. Hermione was certain that Harry had just pushed his magic out and said something like, "Do this," never worrying about how it would be done. That was the only problem he had in Transfigurations, as his emotional state of the moment would infuse itself in whatever Transfiguration he was doing.

Now, with the information she had, Hermione was very upset at herself for not seeing the signs of something different about Harry's relation with magic from first year. As she thought about everything they'd done, it was obvious that Harry was an Aestuomagius.

Harry was as driven by emotion as Hermione was by logic. She had made the comment about his 'saving people thing' but it wasn't about the heroics, it was just Harry, able to feel for anyone, even those that he'd never met. Hermione sometimes regretted that comment, but Harry had never held it against her, and she knew better now.

She jumped, reaching for her wand as a flare of light and a sharp report sounded. She looked up in time to see one of the Ministry cleaning crew blown across the street to lay in a moaning heap.

"Stop!" Moody's voice was urgent and the Ministry person about to cast another spell on the statue froze, staring at the old Auror. "I know that shield, sonny, and you won't like what happens to you if you cast a spell on the statue."

Harry smirked and looked around. "If my people would come with me, we have things to do today."

The senior Ministry man looked at Harry and Harry just stared at him, daring him to say anything. The man wisely passed on that, continuing to check on his injured worker.

Moody stepped up close to the man. "That statue is protected by an Auror's spell, a shield called Retribution. It returns any spell cast at it as a stinging hex. The stronger the spell you cast on it, the stronger the stinging hex is." Moody regarded the statue thoughtfully. "I would like to know how he made it self sustaining though. I always thought you had to concentrate on that spell."

The Ministry man sighed. "He's Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived. What makes you think there's anything he can't do?"

A few seconds later, only the spectators and the clean up people were left.

_**OoOoOoO Voldemort, Somewhere in England. OoOoOoO**_

Voldemort held Lucius's limp body as he thought about the scene he'd just torn out of Lucius's memory. He dropped the unconscious man and stalked around the room, only vaguely aware that the remains of his strike force was scrambling to stay out of his way.

Harry Bloody Potter had done it again. He'd defeated his Death Eaters, and this time, it had been decisive. In the Ministry, none of the Death Eaters had died, and Voldemort had gotten them all back.

This time, at least a few had died, and fully two thirds of them were captured. He swore and continued to think. He should have seen this coming. Albus Dumbledore had been unwilling to escalate the fighting, but Potter had no such compunctions.

Well, Voldemort had known that sooner or later, the fighting would get heavier, and he'd been planning for that time for over a decade. "Lestrange, go to the Baron, and tell him that I want to see him. Then go to the Den and tell the werewolf the same thing. After that, you will go to Lucifer in Hades and tell him that our time has come."

Bellatrix smirked as the last Lestrange brother went pale. Voldemort just looked at him. "Lucifer will not kill you, since I am stronger than he is, and I would kill him for depriving me of a good tool. Now, go."

Rudolph Lestrange bowed, with the look of a man going to the gallows, and disappeared.

Voldemort looked at Bella. "You have a meeting and a duel tomorrow. I think you should retire to your rooms alone tonight. I want you to destroy that woman tomorrow, and I don't want you tired or drained when you meet her."

Bella smiled at Voldemort. "Thank you, My Lord." She turned to go.

"Oh, Bella?"

She turned,watching her master. "Take Lucius with you and leave him in his room. Lock the door on your way out."

Bella looked at the other Death Eaters that had returned from the failed mission and smiled. Someone was going to pay for their lord's anger, and Bella only wished she could watch. She grabbed Lucius by a foot and dragged him out, making sure to hit a corner or two with the body she was dragging.

She locked the door and waited a minute. When the first screams rose from the other side, she smiled and dragged Lucius down the hall, her insanity supplying pictures to go with the screams.

By the time she reached her rooms after dropping Lucius on the floor of his room, she was nearly in tears. Her clothes disappeared as she fell on her bed and tried to relieve the ache of pleasure, imagining the scene in her Lord's chamber right now.

In her mind, her Lord stood over everyone that opposed him, and Bella knelt at his side. She drifted off to sleep on the aftermath of a dozen orgasms,dreaming of the fight to come, her fingers working even as she slept and dreamt of a tall dark woman in leather armour.

_**OoOoOoO Harry and crew, The Montrose Seat. OoOoOoO**_

Harry and the rest of the party had been met by Blaise and Daphne when they arrived at the Montrose manor, and Blaise had been more than willing to show Harry around the huge house, but Harry was more interested in the people in the house, and he'd soon been surrounded by people he'd met just once.

Most of them were young women, with a smattering of children of both sexes and a very few men. Each of the men that had come were attached emotionally to one of the women, and Harry was not surprised to find that none of them had the same last name as the woman they liked.

He anticipated a lot of requests to marry one of his people coming in the near future. Mostly from another of his people.

Blaise and Daphne had been talking to the new people, and they treated Harry with the respect due the head of their family, but without the awe that he hated so much.

Violet had been the first to treat him differently, running up and jumping in his lap to touch his scar again, and ask if he needed a kiss. Harry had held her and been about to say no when he looked at her again. He nodded, and she put her little arms around his neck and laid a light kiss, like the fluttering of a butterfly's wings, on his scar.

Someone else started to scold Violet and Harry stopped them. "Let her be."

Violet smiled at Harry. "You're my," she frowned, trying to remember the word,"House something, but I don't understand that. I think you're my big brother, aren't you?"

Harry smiled at the small girl, enchanted by the purity and innocence of this small girl. "Yes,Violet, you're my little sister."

Violet smiled and hugged Harry. Harry kept an arm around her as he looked up. The crowd around him had started murmuring as soon as he spoke, and he looked at them, wondering what he'd done now.

Hermione leaned over. "I love you, Harry, but I wish we had a bit of time to teach you the customs. You've just made that girl your heir, if something happens to you."

Harry looked at her and Hermione sighed. "Since all of your family is adopted, and you have no blood relations here, they will get their place in your families by your word. Naming her your little sister makes her your closest relative."

Harry sighed. "Today, I don't care. I just want to spend some time with a few people that don't have battle and death on their minds all the time. Is that so much to ask?"

Hermione shook her head. "Not from me, but some of them have fears that may need assuaging."

Harry sighed. "I'll deal with that as I need to," he said, looking at Violet, who was fussing with his Wizengamot pin. "For now, I'm just going to enjoy the day."

Hermione frowned at Harry. He was far too happy, given the events of the day and she didn't understand it. She looked at him and watched as he talked gently to Violet, and then it hit her. Harry was responding to the emotions of the little girl. She knew nothing of pain or fear and the idea of worrying about tomorrow had not intruded on her world view yet.

Harry was responding to that, and Hermione nodded. If Harry could pick up on ambient emotions around him, that would explain why he'd been miserable at the Dursley's forever and why he'd exploded in anger almost as soon as he'd entered Grimmauld Place. The place was Dark and full of years of anger and hate.

She watched then, as Harry opened up under the admiration and gratitude of these people, who knew only that Harry had saved them and didn't care about anything else. They had lunch in the garden, and for a few scant hours, even Hermione managed to forget what waited for them.

Harry's carefree time ended though, when a ghost approached him. "You are the one who would be the Montrose."

Harry looked up, and Hermione could feel the change in him as he studied the ghost. The man was dressed in the simple robes of an much earlier time. Hermione studied him, comparing him to pictures in her history books and decided his fashions had been made sometime in the fifth century AD. The ghost was an older man, in his forties by his appearance, which for a wizard meant he could be anything from forty to eighty. Hermione wasn't sure, but she thought he might have had dark hair in life, although the pale shades of a ghost made that hard to determine.

"I am the Montrose," Harry said then, interrupting her thoughts. "What do you want?"

"I am Emberic, first of the line that would become the Montroses, and I have some information for your ears only, unless you have a Lady Montrose."

Harry looked at Hermione. "Miss Hermione Granger-Black will be Lady Montrose in a year or so."

The ghost examined Hermione, much as she had examined him a minute earlier. "That is good. The line will continue." He looked at Harry again. ""You have the blood, supposedly. We shall see." He looked at Hermione again. "Would you please hold Mr. Montrose's hand?"

Hermione stood up as Harry did, setting Violet down. She crossed to him, wondering what was going to happen now. When they were holding hands the ghost spoke again. "Harry James Potter-Black-Montrose claims the Montrose Seat, and the responsibilities thereof."

The people watching froze in horror and panic. Where Harry and Hermione had stood a second ago was absolutely nothing. They had disappeared without a trace. Pansy groaned and Ginny sighed. "Here we go again."

_**OoOoOoO The Author, Here and Now. OoOoOoO**_

_Hehe... Harry just can't do anything normally, can he?_

_More coming, after a chapter of BoB and one of PoE. Have fun until then._

_On another note, I am amazed at the sheer numbers of you that love this story. Y'all are starting to make me nervous... I hope I don't disappoint anyone with what's going to be happening._

_Raven_


	10. The Lull Before The Storm

_Harry and Hermione are somewhere, following the Montrose Ghost. Let's find out what they're doing, and catch up with everyone else at the same time. I wonder what the Rat is doing? I have a few things to say after we catch up with all the people in the story, so stick around for the notes. Right now, it is Monday afternoon. Three hundred and fifty eight days to go. (I said that in chapter eight also, and it took me two chapters to cover one day. This is not going to be the fifteen chapter story I had planned on writing.) For those of you that need to know this kind of thing, the year should be 1997, and for the purposes of this Fic, the last day of school was 30JUN97 and it was a Sunday, meaning Harry met with Pansy in chapter one early in the morning of Monday, 01JUL97 (Before anyone says anything, I know that the 30th of June, 1997 was a Monday.) _

_**Harry Potter and the Shades of Grey**_

_**Chapter Ten**_

_**The Lull Before the Storm**_

_**This Chapter is dedicated to my latest Betas, FanFic Guardian and Vicki. You are awesome for even trying to put up with me, and I thank you.**_

_**OoOoOoO Harry and Hermione, The Montrose Estate, Monday afternoon, 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

The crowd had barely begun to react to the disappearance of the couple when they reappeared in the same place they had been before they left. They looked the same, except that Harry and Hermione now had matching medallions around their necks. Harry also had a large key in one hand.

Ginny sighed. "That must have been boring, Harry's not even scratched."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other and back at Ginny. "Boring?" asked Harry, "Not really, but at least they didn't want to kill me."

Pansy rubbed her eyes. "Is it always like this?" she asked Ginny. "Harry just finding bizarre things to get involved in?"

Ginny nodded vigorously. "Yes, it is. Harry just isn't being Harry if something isn't going on every month."

Pansy sighed. "Great. I'm going to have grey hair before I leave school."

Harry and Hermione were looking at each other and at the key in Harry's hand. "Put it away, Harry," Hermione suggested, looking around. "We've scared a lot of people here, and you should reassure them that you're fine."

Harry looked around, seeing all of his family members watching him with various expressions from fear to interest. He smiled at them. "Just another moment in my life. I'm fine, and so is Hermione."

Ginny and Pansy looked at each other. "Would you mind filling us in on where you went and what you did, Harry?" asked Ginny. "Some of us would like to know."

The Montrose ghost that had been talking to Harry just before he disappeared looked at Ginny. "Mr. Montrose may not speak of it, nor may Miss Black. It is an old charge, laid on the first Montrose more than twelve hundred years ago, and Mr. Montrose has renewed the contract."

A low murmur rose from the crowd, louder among those who had accepted the Montrose family name. Ginny and Pansy looked frustrated, but kept their silence. Violet came up to Harry. "You scared me, disappearing like that."

Harry bent down and picked the young girl up. "I'm sorry about that, Violet, but sometimes, things just happen, and we have to deal with them. I'm back, and this is all over." Harry looked at the tables where they'd been eating. "I think there's some ice cream left," he said conspiratorially. "Let's get some before it's all gone."

Violet smiled and hugged Harry before sliding out of his arms and grabbing his hand to drag a smiling Harry toward the ice cream. With Harry and Hermione back and apparently uninjured, the party started up again, although it was a bit more subdued than before.

Blaise came over to Harry and sat down. Daphne was with him and Harry wondered if the two of them ever separated now, as they seemed to be holding hands every time he saw them. "Harry, that thing you're doing, how will it affect the family?" was Blaise's opening comment.

Harry shook his head. "It won't. It will be known only to myself and Hermione, until we have a first born Montrose child of our own. It is tied to the bloodline, and I am the last person in the direct bloodline."

Blaise nodded, thinking about it. "Good. I was afraid you'd gone and done something that would affect us all."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. No, this wouldn't affect them _all_.

_**OoOoOoO Voldemort, the Baron and Greyback, somewhere, midnight, 08JULY97. OoOoOoO**_

Voldemort looked at the ones he had to call 'allies', at least to their faces. In truth, they were minions of a vexing sort. Too strong to be openly bullied, yet not the Purebloods that Voldemort wanted. In short, they were cannon fodder as far as Voldemort was concerned, but he could not let them know that.

Only the Baron and Greyback were at this meeting. Lucifer had to be handled carefully, due to his madness and Voldemort would deal with him shortly.

Voldemort examined the two beings. The Baron was a short man now, although he'd been considered tall when he'd become a vampire thirteen hundred years ago. Now he controlled an entire coven of thirty vampires with an iron fist. While it was not the largest coven in the world, it was powerful due to the Baron's habit of turning Wizards and other semi magical beings. There were even rumours that he had tried to turn a Centaur.

Greyback, on the other hand, was a raving madman who lived only for blood and the change to what he saw as his rightful form. "The war is growing, as I predicted to both of you, and it is time for you to use your assets," Voldemort announced, looking at the two of them in turn. "Baron, some late night blood letting, left where the corpses can be found and not hidden from the public would accelerate the terror until the full moon, when Fenrir will gather as many werewolves as he can and attack a target I will choose."

The Baron looked at Voldemort coolly. "I hear what you want, Lord Voldemort, but I do not hear the benefit to me or mine."

Voldemort nodded slowly. "I do not mind if you feed on Muggles, and anywhere I rule, you are welcome to feed on any who do not bear my mark."

The Baron shrugged. "Nice, in the future, but right now, you do not rule yet, and Harry Potter stands between you and that rule you desire. I understand your troops were soundly defeated in the battle of Diagon Alley." He looked at Voldemort. "What do you offer me now?"

Voldemort kept his face blank despite his rage and contained the urge to hex the vampire several times. "What do you want?"

The Baron smiled faintly. "I wish to be able to challenge Baron de La Mothe for his territory, and in order to do so, I must have three vampires who are Wizards. I need three of your Death Eaters, ones that can be turned." He looked at Voldemort. "I can turn shock troops from anywhere, but I need magic users that do not need to be taught about Dark Magic."

Voldemort frowned. After the twin defeats at the Burrow and in Diagon Alley, he was short of lower Death Eaters. More were being recruited and trained, but it would be at least two months before they were ready to be used in any significant way. "They must be able to cast Magic, but does their intelligence matter, or just their obedience?"

The Baron considered that. "I would prefer intelligent minions, but it is not completely necessary."

Voldemort nodded. "The night of the full moon, if you have allowed at least one dead body to be found every night, I will give you three of mine. If you miss a night, you lose all three. It is twelve days until the full moon. That means I expect to see twelve attacks reported in the Daily Prophet."

The Baron stroken his chin and nodded. "If I should find that any of yours have hidden or ruined a feeding, I get the three that day."

Voldemort nodded. "Good enough." He looked at Fenrir. "And what do you want to lead an attack?"

Fenrir grinned, a savage look in his eyes. "Nothing, except a few survivors that have been bitten. I also wish to increase my ranks."

Voldemort shrugged. "As long as there are lots of dead bodies lying around, you may take whomever you want."

Greyback snarled in glee. "We can do that. I only want the young ones, those can be molded into the image I want. Anyone over fifteen will be left dead."

Voldemort made a few more arraignments and then the two left, going back to their respective lairs. Voldemort made a mental note to have someone make sure that Greyback hadn't left any fleas behind and went to his personal weapon.

_**OoOoOoO Voldemort, London, All Hallows Eve, 1979. OoOoOoO**_

Voldemort was flushed with pride. His campaign of Terror was going well, to the point where most Wizards wouldn't even speak his name anymore for fear of attracting his attention. He was lightly attended this night, with only Bellatrix and the Lestrange brothers with him. They were returning from a meeting with Voldemort's spy inside the Order of the Phoenix.

They stopped as a burst of accidental magic exploded through the air somewhere near by. Voldemort hissed, "A Muggleborn. Let's go and relieve it of the burden of life."

They started toward where the magic came from, a small house that had seen better days, and better decades. They stepped up to the front door and Bella opened it with a quick twist of her wand. Voldemort led the way inside and toward the sound of chanting. He stopped, listening to the chant. A memory intruded then, of those long ago days in the orphanage and being forced to listen to a Minister every Sunday.

Voldemort held up his hand and ordered the others to wait. He listened long enough to be sure of what he heard. Somewhere down the stairs, someone was trying to invoke the devil. The Death Eaters with him shivered at the arcane chanting. The man sounded grim and angry, invoking thoughts of death and blood with every sentence.

Voldemort didn't believe in any religion except power, but he knew that belief could be a power in itself, when it was used properly. An idea came to him and he smiled. He might just have a purpose for this particular Muggleborn after all.

Voldemort told his followers to wait until he called them, and to follow his instructions to the letter. He eased down the stairs until he could see a corner of the room the voice was coming from. He Apparated, appearing in front of a Muggle dressed in black robes. In the corner was a small boy, about nine or ten, who was the source of the magic that had attracted his attention.

"You have called me and I am here. What bargain do you wish to make with me, mortal?" Voldemort stared at the man that was gaping at him in shock and fear. "Speak quickly, mortal, or I shall rip the very soul from your body to feast upon."

That was how Voldemort had found Kevin Brown and his son David. Kevin was a Satanist, and Voldemort played the part of Satan well. Kevin soon found his life improving, all for a minor cost, or so he thought.

Until Voldemort gave David, who was a Muggleborn Wizard, to a Dark Witch to raise in the ways of 'Satan'.

David was raised to believe that his 'powers' were gifts of Satan, and that only complete obedience would allow him to keep them. The Witch that raised him instructed him constantly in the acts that pleased their 'Master' and by the time he was fifteen, David was sacrificing Muggles with no more thought than most would give to swatting a fly. David grew up a hard, cold man, and his only wish was that 'Satan' would return and bless him further. After the disappearance of Voldemort, she continued to train him, thinking to use him herself.

When Voldemort regained his body, he visited David. David had changed his name to Lucifer and collected a solid core of believers. 'Satan's' return was greeted with much joy by David/Lucifer, and only 'Satan's' word stopped him from sacrificing someone to honour the return.

Voldemort told him to gather more trustworthy followers and sent them an occasional Muggle to sacrifice to him, holding them in reserve for the fighting he knew would be coming when the Ministry of Magic decided Voldemort was too powerful. After all, having a fanatically loyal Wizard who knew Muggle ways intimately would be very helpful, especially when it came to hunting down Muggleborn Wizards and their families.

_**OoOoOoO Voldemort and Lucifer, Somewhere, 0100, 09JULY97. OoOoOoO**_

Voldemort opened the door to the small room Lucifer had been waiting in. Voldemort looked at the man that had been a nine year old boy when Voldemort had first seen him.

David Brown was a muscular man tall and dark of hair. He might have been considered handsome if it wasn't for the aura around,a grim and cold feeling. People in the Muggle world described him as creepy and evil, never knowing just how close they came to the truth. Lucifer looked at the world with the burning eyes of a fanatic and a cold twist to his lips, as if he was barely refraining from sneering at anyone he saw. That was very close to the truth. Only one being was greater than him, in his opinion, and everyone less was merely a sacrifice that had been seen to yet.

"I have work for you, Disciple. If you please me, you will advance to the next level. If not, your punishment will be remembered for a thousand years." Voldemort used the small magic that made his voice lower and deeper, more of what they both thought Satan should sound like when he spoke to Lucifer. His new appearance, since the events that gave him this new body, worked to reinforce his Satan persona, as he was obviously not human now.

"I am yours, Lord Satan, body and soul. Command me, and I will do your bidding." Lucifer concealed the joy that rose in his chest. Finally, the Master was moving against his enemies. Blood would flow in rivers and torrents now.

Voldemort smiled. "Then listen carefully, Lucifer. This is what I want you to do..."

_**OoOoOoO The Order Without a Name, Harry's room, 0600 09JUL97 OoOoOoO**_

Harry stared at his breakfast blearily. They had been up quite late last night as Hermione and Harry had told Ginny and Pansy what had happened in those few minutes they had disappeared. The ghost had grudgingly given Harry permission to tell the two girls when Harry had refused the ancient charge if it meant keeping secrets from the other two girls.

Miranda, unlike Harry and the girls, was bright eyed and nearly quivering with anticipation. Most of the Order was here, with only Wilkes, Tonks and Shacklebolt missing. Dobby and Winky were happily feeding the entire group as they finally had something to do in Harry's room. Most of the time, the two House Elves were rather bored as cleaning the rooms didn't take them that long.

Harry looked down the table. Pansy and Ginny were sitting to each side of him this morning with Hermione next to Pansy and Miranda beyond her. Ron was sitting next to Ginny and the rest of the Weasley family, minus only Molly and Arthur, lined up after them. Even Percy was here this morning, talking quietly to Ron about something.

Neville and Luna were chatting about something and Harry smiled slightly as Neville went goggle eyed at something Luna said and then blushed fiercely. Apparently, Luna was being herself this morning.

Katie and Angelina were discussing Quidditch with Fleur while Moody talked with Remus. Remus was wan and tired, and Harry interrupted his conversation to ask after Tonks. "She woke briefly about an hour ago, but she'll be in the hospital for at least another two weeks."

Harry and the others smiled at that news, but most of the smiles disappeared quickly and Harry began watching the others.

Harry frowned as he felt that something was wrong, but for a minute, he couldn't tell what. He figured it out quickly. Everyone was too quiet, as if they were at a funereal. Harry looked down the table again and decided to test this magic that Hermione was certain he had. He concentrated for a second, remembering the scene at the Burrow and the bodies Miranda had left behind. When he had the feelings he wanted, he relaxed and let it out.

Everyone looked up at Harry as they felt his faith in them, his confidence that they could do what needed to be done, borne on the familiar touch of his magic. "I think some of you are worried about Miranda, and it seems to be affecting everyone. I believe she will win, after seeing her work. I also think you all need to relax."

Hermione was looking at Harry thoughtfully. This was the first time he'd consciously used his ability, and it was only typical of Harry that it would be to make others feel better.

Fred and George looked at each other. "Actually, Harry, it's not Miranda we're worried about. It's the possibility of other Death Wankers showing up, while you and Ginny are alone and Miranda is busy."

Harry frowned as he thought about that. "I was assuming that Bella was acting in good faith, and that Miranda would make sure we weren't followed to wherever we're going to do this."

Miranda looked up. "I can swear that no one will follow our Portkey to its destination." She smirked. "And, if by some chance they do manage to follow us, they will regret it."

Moody sat up in his chair. "You're going to the Fifth Level, aren't you?"

Miranda nodded. "I have permission to have the duel there, so that it can be can be recorded for future Defenders to watch. Bella was quite agreeable to be made immortal that way."

The rest of the people at the table were looking at each other in puzzlement. "Would you be kind enough to tell me where we're going?" asked Ginny, looking at Miranda.

Miranda smiled. "The Fifth Level is the Defender testing grounds, much like the Inferno except geared to our particular abilities and skills."

Harry nodded slowly. "I assume that there will be others there, to ensure Bella's friends don't interfere?"

Miranda shook her head. "Only the four of us. Bella cannot attack you, Mr. Potter, and you can only attack her if she attacks Miss Weasley."

Harry blinked. "You mean that scene from the Inferno test was right?"

Ginny tapped Harry on the shoulder. "Why would you imagine Bella kissing you anyway?"

Harry shrugged. "I don't know." He looked at Moody. "How does that box work, anyway?"

Moody thought about it for a minute as Dobby came in the room and handed Hermione a stack of papers and letters. Hermione thanked him and began going through them. "The box creates a scenario that forces you to use your magic to the utmost, using the worries and fears of your mind. I didn't make it, and I don't know much more than that. You're not the first person to report strange images from the box. A few of the Unspeakables from the Department of Mysteries think that the genius that created it did better than he knew, and that it can draw images from your subconscious as well."

Ginny looked disgusted. "You mean Harry thinks Bella could like him?"

Miranda frowned thoughtfully as she remembered her meeting with Bellatrix. "It is entirely possible, Miss Weasley. Bella likes powerful people, and Mr. Potter is that. As I recall, the box Bellatrix said something about it being a pity he was so nice, or they could have fun. She said something simular to me when she asked me to join her in some creative mayhem."

Ginny frowned. "Are you saying that Bellatrix would abandon Moldywart, if somebody stronger came along who would allow her to hurt people?"

Miranda thought about the woman that she'd talked to behind the burning Burrow. "I think that her madness is growing, and that the only thing that is truly real to her anymore is death and destruction."

Harry frowned. "You had better be careful with her then. I would really prefer to have you win this duel today."

"Tonight, actually. You have a dozen things to do today, including a meeting with the twins tonight at six, so Bella and I agreed on a nine o'clock meeting at the Wickerbasket. Plus, Chekhov is taking the re-certification test today, and he's using the facility."

Pansy looked at Miranda. "Why do you always refer to Defenders by a single name? Everyone else you call Mr. or Miss, but your fellows, you don't use honorifics for. Why?"

Miranda shrugged. "It's traditional. Someone decided a couple of centuries ago that we didn't need any more honor than being a Defender, so we don't use titles when talking to or about each other."

The breakfast conversation became a general discussion about what the various people where going to be doing today. Hermione was going to set up a schedule with Moody to start training the people that would make up Harry's fighters, and then she would join Ginny at the Shades of Grey office to work out a system for finding the surviving victims of Voldemort's attacks. Ginny was going to the office to work with Mr. Michaels. Ron, Neville and Luna were going to Diagon Alley to get some potions supplies Luna needed.

Dobby came to stand next to Harry. "Harry Potter Sir," Dobby said, "Dobby is wondering what to do with ratman."

Harry blinked, and then remembered Dobby had Peter Pettigrew. He thought for a minute, and then Pansy whispered something in his ear. Harry listened and looked at Pansy. "That's going a bit far," he chided her gently. "But it will work, with one small change." He looked up. "Moody, can you get Aurors Wilkes and Shacklebolt here fairly quickly?"

Moody nodded and got up to cross to the Floo. He put his head in the fire and made a Floo call. While he was doing that, Harry had Dobby fetch Peter's cage. Dobby brought it in and set it on the floor. Harry looked at Peter and everyone was surprised at his control. "Good morning, Pettigrew," he said quietly. "I'm going to ask you to change and join me for breakfast, unless you'd rather spend a few more days in your cage, waiting for me to have time to get back to you."

Peter nodded his head and Dobby opened the cage. Peter came out of the cage and changed quickly. "Oh, thank you, Harry." Harry had Dobby get Peter some food and a small table to eat at. By the time Peter was eating, Shacklebolt and Wilkes had joined them.

Harry sighed and looked at Peter. "I am calling in the Debt you owe me, Pettigrew. Right here, right now, you will tell us every thing you've ever done for or with Voldemort, going back to your first meeting with him. If you do this to my satisfaction, I will offer you three choices. If not, I will simply give you to Auror Wilkes, and allow her to claim the credit for capturing you."

Peter stared at Harry as he thought about his options. He couldn't run, there were far too many people here to even consider fighting, and Harry had his wand pointing at him. Peter sighed and began speaking.

An hour later, Harry had to leave the room for a few minutes as Peter talked about the events leading up to Halloween, 1981. People left as Peter talked, until the only ones left were Harry, Hermione, Pansy, Ginny, the two Aurors and Moody. Harry looked at his watch and frowned. "I have places to be today. You will finish telling your story to the Aurors, and then Dobby will return you to your cage until I return from the Duel. At that time, if I am told that you have given these two everything they want to know, I will give you your three choices and you can decide what you're going to do. If they tell me that you were not completely helpful, then you will be given to Auror Wilkes. Do you understand your options?"

Peter sighed. "Please, Harry, don't leave me in the cage forever again. I swear to help you, if you just don't leave me there."

Harry coloured slightly. "It's been a really busy time," he half apologized, "and I won't do that again." He looked at Dobby. "Dobby, when we get back from the Duel, remind me that Wormtail needs to be dealt with, one way or another."

Dobby nodded. "Dobby will remind the great Harry Potter Sir, even if ratman is not good today."

Harry looked at Ginny. "When you get to work, owl Colin and ask him if he could come see me tomorrow. Tell him I have a job for him and his camera." Harry thought for a second. "Hermione, while you're with Moody, see if you can work out some way for us to know when a Death Eater attack starts, so we can respond instantly."

Hermione frowned. "I had an idea about that, Harry, but I don't know how practical it is, and I would need Professor Lupin's help, as well as Mr. Moody and Auror Wilkes, I think." She frowned again. "If we can even get it to work."

Harry nodded. "Remus is at St. Mungo's with Tonks. See if you can get him away from there, but make sure you put someone else there to watch over Tonks. I don't want her attacked while she can't defend herself."

Hermione nodded, obviously thinking about who they could have standing guard. "I'll make sure someone is there, Harry. I also need to see about your other idea."

Harry grinned. "Ginny, while you're at work, ask Mr. Sharpstar to set something up, an offshoot of the Shades of Grey, a research lab for Hermione. Get with him about a place to put it, and get with Hermione about what she'll need in it, and then hire her and Miranda to work there."

Hermione started to protest, but Harry stopped her. "Hermione, you're going to be working on a great many things for me this year, things that might have value after this war is over. It's only right that you get the credit and a share of any money that comes from those things." He smiled slyly. "Besides, do you really want to spend that much time in the Black Manor?"

Hermione sighed and then smiled. "I could use a real lab to work in," she said, a far away look on her face as she thought about it, "with a desk and a good potions table and some books."

Ginny giggled. "I knew she'd want the books," she said as Hermione mock glared at her. Hermione pulled an old folded parchment from her robes. She handed it to Ginny. Ginny unfolded it and read a few lines, then looked at Hermione. "You have a lab set up already written out?" she asked incredulously.

Hermione blushed as the others smiled at her. "It was just a dream, something I'd like to have but never thought would happen."

Harry shook his head. "Alright, while this is fun and informative, I have a million things to do today and I need to get going."

Hermione handed Harry another parchment. Harry looked at it and grimaced. "Thank you for the list of things I have to do, I completely forgot about Mr. Robards."

"You did promise to meet with him for dinner Saturday night, and we missed it. I set up an appointment at his office at ten this morning. You should have at least enough time to apologize and maybe set up another meeting." She frowned. "The Minister is likely to know as soon as you get to the Ministry, Harry, and since you don't want to talk to him until you have all your plans in place, I kept the meeting time short. Hopefully, you'll be in and out before he can stop whatever he's doing and find you."

Harry nodded, reading the rest of the list. "We'll come and get you and Ginny from the office before we go to the twin' shop, OK? I would prefer not to have to have Miranda defend you just before she meets Bella tonight."

Plans made, Harry kissed Hermione and then stepped into the Floo with Pansy to start the things they had to do.

After everyone else was gone, the three Aurors continued to interrogate Peter Pettigrew. Wormtail had been with Voldemort since his return in Harry's first year and since he was one of the few people that the Dark Lord was certain had no intentions of trying to take his place, Peter had been very useful to the evil Wizard. He was privy to almost everything Voldemort did, and Pettigrew's habits of sneaking around to avoid the notice of the other Death Eaters had allowed him to overhear many of their plans as well.

Shacklebolt and Wilkes asked question after question, about who the Death Eaters were, what they did, where they had hidden and more. Moody interjected an occasional demand for details, but mostly he sat and listened, storing everything he heard for later, when he got back to his friends.

Some of the things they were learning were too out of date for anyone else to look into, but Moody had time on his hands, and there was always a chance that something could be learned even in an abandoned hideout that hadn't been used in ten years.

It was nearly lunch before they finished questioning Peter. They reviewed their notes, making sure they had covered everything they wanted to know. Moody was staring at Peter as the other two read. "You're hiding something. What do you know that Harry's instructions didn't cover, Death Eater?"

Peter rubbed his nose with the side of his hand, still rat like even in his human shape. He evaded everyone's eyes as he replied. "Nothing. I told you everything I did with or for the Dark Lord, just as Harry asked."

Moody rose and came to look at Peter, pushing right into his face. His magic eye whirled at he glared at the small man. "You're hiding something dark from us, rat. Now, unless you want me to start looking for it with a sharp knife, I suggest you talk."

"You can't do that," Peter whined, "there are Aurors here."

Shacklebolt looked at Wilkes. "I don't know about you, Amanda, but I think we could leave the prisoner in Moody's hands while we went to lunch, don't you? Any injuries that he might get while we're gone would obviously be from attempting to escape."

Amanda Wilkes looked at Moody and Peter. "I don't know," she said, staring at Peter. "To be honest, after the story we just heard, I think I would rather help Moody get his information. There are ways to make sure he doesn't talk, and I don't think Harry would be too upset if he died."

Moody smiled at Peter. "You see? No one here will say anything, and it would be your word against ours, rat. Now, unless you would like to start losing bits, starting with that silver hand of yours, you had better tell me what you're hiding."

Peter looked at the three Aurors and saw no mercy in any of their faces. Slowly, he began to talk. When he was done, the three Aurors looked at each other. "Let's keep this to ourselves until I can get somebody to look into it. I don't think we need to burden Harry with this until we're sure it actually means something." Moody looked at Wormtail and pulled his wand. Before Pettigrew could do anything, the grizzled Auror cast his spell.

_**OoOoOoO Harry and Pansy, Mr. Sharpstar's office, 0800, 09JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

"And this is a list of the people that voted against your first bill, Mr. Potter." Mr. Sharpstar handed a parchment to Harry, who looked at the list and snorted. "A Crabbe and a Bole. I am so surprised." He kept reading. "I don't recognize all of these names, but I do see a few more I know."

"I'm not surprised," Mr. Sharpstar said, "seeing as most of them are older Pureblood family names and very prominent. I have a man checking them out now to see if they have ties to your enemy, or if they're just bigoted."

Harry nodded. "Do you have the next two items for the Wizengamot ready yet?"

Nicholas smiled. "Yes, and one of your new allies is going to introduce the important one while I make a big fuss over the other one."

Pansy was looking at the two of them in confusion. "Would you mind filling me in on what you're doing?"

Harry shrugged, turning an innocent face to her. "I'm going to introduce a bill to the Wizengamot that would require everyone sentenced to Azkaban to be given Veritaserum, so that no more Sirius Black cases can happen. I'm going to raise hell about it, even going so far as to provide Rita Skeeter a Pensieve memory of every time I've seen Peter Pettigrew since he supposedly died. Ron and Hermione are going to help."

Pansy frowned. "That's not all of it, Harry. Tell me the rest."

Harry gave her a wicked smile. "While I make a fuss about that, one of the other families is going to quietly introduce a bill allowing anyone wronged by someone convicted of a crime to claim some part of their wealth, depending on how badly they were hurt by the criminal's actions. We're going to use the theft of things from Sirius' house as the basis for it. That should get us a few Pureblood votes, as the thought of somebody stealing things from a family as old as the Black family should hit home. We're also using Sirius because a few more people will be disgusted by the thought of stealing from the dead, and of course the Longbottom, Potter, Black and Montrose votes are behind it."

Pansy nodded. "I can see that, but why?"

Harry smirked. "Because as soon as that bill is law, I intend to claim everything the Heir of Slytherin has, for the deaths of my parents and his attempt to kill me. Neville will likewise claim everything the Lestranges have, and I have other people that will be claiming almost everything every known Death Eater has." Harry smirked. "As Hermione said to that goblin, money is power, and I plan to take Moldywart's power this summer."

Pansy smiled as she thought about it. "You're going to hit them financially, and you've already hit him in the supporters department. Any other plans to hurt them, Mr. Slytherin?"

Harry drew himself up and smirked. "I am a Gryffindor, miss, please do not insult me like that." He imitated Lucius' sneer and looked down his nose at Pansy.

Pansy looked at him and burst into laughter. "Harry, stop. Don't ever try to act like that in public."

Harry looked at her. "Didn't I do it right?"

Pansy grinned. "No. It takes a very long time in front of a mirror, and lots of practice to get a good sneer down. You just looked as if you'd eaten something bad."

Harry laughed. "You mean Draco practiced that sneer? He needs to work on it more."

Nicholas watched the teenagers joking around. "I hate to interrupt your fun, but I have a few papers for you to sign, Mr. Potter, and the people from the Comet Broomstick company want to know when you can pose for a few pictures."

Harry sighed. "Hermione will be at the office later, get in touch with her, she's scheduling my time these days."

Pansy smirked. "We told you she'd be good for you, Harry."

Harry looked at the parchment Nicholas had just handed him. "What is this?"

"Your notice to the Wizengamot to claim the family seats on your birthday, and assume the title of Baron Potter and Lord Black."

Harry nodded, reading through the document. "Hey, this states that once I assume the seats I may assign other people to vote in my stead."

Nicholas Sharpstar nodded. "Yes, in order to facilitate the recall of the Wizengamot, each active Wizengamot ring has a modified Protean Charm on it, allowing contact with the wearer. Additionally, it will Portkey you to the Wizengamot chamber if you have been summoned, with a simple tap of your wand."

Harry frowned at that. "I hate Portkeys. Who can I appoint to hold my seats?"

"Any Witch or Wizard in good standing who has not been convicted of a crime and who is of age."

Pansy was frowning at Harry. "What are you planning, Harry?"

Harry smiled. "I think I will vote the Montrose seat and put you, a Windenmere, in the Potter seat, and Hermione in the Black seat."

Pansy and Nicholas stared at Harry. "Mr. Potter, you're going to put a Windenmere, a decidedly grey, possibly Dark Witch in the family seat of a Light family, and a Muggleborn Light Witch in an old Pureblood Dark seat?"

Harry nodded. "Call it my notice that I will change things. The rampant bigotry of the Wizard world is going to go down, even if I have to bribe, blackmail or intimidate every Wizard in the world."

Pansy frowned. "Harry, I'm not saying that I disagree with you, but can we stick to one enemy at a time? The old families are going to be hunting for you if you do this, and we can't afford any more enemies at this time."

Nicholas added his opinion and Harry grudgingly allowed himself to be persuaded to wait before starting his social revolution. He signed the parchment and looked at the next one, which was a balance statement about his vaults. Since he had just purchased the Montrose Manor, his balance was down somewhat, but with the incomes from the Black estate added to the Potter incomes, his earnings ratio was way up.

"Negotiations are under way to buy the Daily Prophet and Witch Weekly. The Weekly is cheaper, but it appears that the owners don't want to sell it, which is going to increase the price considerably." Nicholas looked at another paper. "The Daily Prophet's owner was intrigued by the offer we made, and is considering a counter offer."

Harry nodded. "Maybe this will help. Start the paperwork for me to start a newspaper of my own. Get the permits or whatever, and start looking for the shop and things I need to run it. Don't hide it, let everyone you talk know that I'm starting a paper, and that I will be writing an opinion piece in every issue."

Nicholas smiled. "You're going to make it appear that the Prophet will soon have competition, and see if that makes selling out a better option for the owner. Or are you actually going to start a paper?"

Harry frowned. "I don't know anything about running a paper."

Mr. Sharpstar shrugged. "So? You don't know anything about pranks, but you put the money up for the people that do, and you're making money from that. This would be the same thing, only instead of letting the editor in chief decide everything, you would set some guidelines that he would have to work within."

Harry nodded. "Can we afford to start a paper? I do have to have some ready funds, just in case Moldywart does something unexpected."

Nicholas looked at Harry's balance and thought about it. "I don't know, but I will within a couple of days. If you can, do you want to start a paper?"

Harry looked at the ceiling. "Go ahead and get the numbers together. When you have them, I'll sit down with you and the ladies to discuss it."

Harry and Mr. Sharpstar discussed Harry's plans in the Wizengamot and how they would be working the members, trying to drum up support for the things Harry had planned. Nicholas Sharpstar had found a tutor for Harry in the customs of the Wizengamot and politics, an older Witch who had been active in the Wizengamot until her age made it impossible to maintain the schedule of the Wizengamot.

Harry grinned. "Hermione will probably want to learn some of that as well. When you see her, remind her that I only have so many hours in the day."

"Speaking of hours in the day," Nicholas Sharpstar said, looking at Harry, "I spoke to an Unspeakable I know in the Ministry. Croaker says he'll allow you to use a Time Turner for your birthday, but in return he wants two things from you."

Harry sighed. "Naturally. Everybody wants something from me. What does he want?"

"Most important, he wants you to allow them to hear your prophecy, so that they can record it for the Hall of Mysteries. He also wants a detailed report on exactly what happened that night, preferably, an account of what each person did, from their own mouth."

Harry frowned as he bit his lip. "That may be possible," he said hesitantly, "but I won't make any promises for the rest of the people that were there."

Nicholas made a note on a parchment. "I'll tell him you'll ask them, but that you will only say that you'll give your version of events."

Harry nodded and looked at his watch. "I'd stay and discuss this some more, but I have an appointment with Mr. Robards in fifteen minutes."

Pansy handed Harry a string. Harry looked at it. "Hermione said that you might go over your allotted time, and made a Portkey between each destination, or as close to it as you can get."

Harry smiled. "That's Hermione for you, always one step ahead in planning." He looked at Pansy. "I bet you've also got a schedule, with a time to leave each place we visit, don't you?"

Pansy pulled a paper from her robes. "Two times, actually. The time we should leave so we don't have to rush and the absolute last minute that we can leave and be on time."

Harry grinned. "Well, let's not mess up her schedule. She gets cranky if you do."

Harry and Pansy said goodbye to Mr. Sharpstar and disappeared.

Pansy led Harry into the phone booth and into the Ministry. As they came out and spoke to the Auror about registering their wands, he looked at Harry. "Mr. Potter, I have to thank you for your actions in Diagon Alley. My sister was working in one of the stores there, but they were able to put out the fire that started because your people ended the threat before the fire got too large."

Harry shrugged. "That must have been at Susan and Shacklebolt's end of the Alley. I will pass your thanks on to the people that fought there."

They got their passes and Harry looked at his. "Harry Potter, appointment with Mr. Robards." he read and nodded as he affixed it to his robes. Pansy led him to the Auror's offices and Harry spoke to the Witch sitting at the desk there. She looked up and her eyes did that typical little flick to see his scar. "Excuse me, Mr. Potter, I'll see if he's ready for you."

She got up and went through a door, returning in just a few minutes. "Mr. Robards will see you now, Mr. Potter."

Harry followed her through the door with Pansy following along quietly. The office Harry was led into was filled with cabinets and file holders. Mr. Robards looked up from his desk, which was also filled with files and parchments. "Good morning, Mr. Potter. I missed you at dinner the other night." He pointed at a couple of chairs and silently invited them to sit.

Harry sighed. "As you might have read, I've been very busy, and it completely slipped my mind."

Mr. Robards smiled. "Busy might be a bit of an understatement, Mr. Potter. You and your friends have captured or killed so many Death Eaters in the last week that I'm thinking of just replacing the Aurors with your group." He looked at Harry. "Does your group have a name, by the way? Keeping track of the Order of the Phoenix was easy, but no one has heard a name for your group yet."

Harry smiled. "I don't have a name for it yet. I thought I'd leave that to people who worry about that sort of thing."

The Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement looked at him. "You do realize that it will end up being called Potter's Army or something simular if you don't give it a name, don't you?"

Harry shrugged. "I really don't care what people call it, as long as it works the way I want it to."

Mr. Robards nodded. "Small talk aside, would you mind telling me just what you're doing these days? I read the article in the Quibbler, and while it had the polish of an article written by a professional, I did recognize Miss Granger's touch in phrasing and word choice."

Harry told him everything he was going to tell anyone that was not part of his group or families. "I am going to keep Moldywart's attention on me, as I have the best chance of surviving another encounter with him." Harry looked at Mr. Robards. "Sooner or later, I will end this constant assault on my friends and I, one way or another."

Mr. Robards regarded Harry silently for a minute. "You're holding back a few things, and one of them is the reason that you were in the Hall of Mysteries last year. It doesn't take a lot of intelligence to figure out that you or You-Know-Who was after a prophecy, as that is the only thing stored there. Given that obsession You-Know-Who has with trying to kill you, I have to assume that you are a serious threat to him somehow."

Harry shrugged non-committally. "It really doesn't matter why he's obsessed with me at this point. He's killed my parents, my Godfather and been responsible for constant attacks on me and my friends as well as making possible the death of Professor Dumbledore and Cedric Diggory. At this point, I just want it all to stop."

Mr. Robards looked at Pansy. "And what is the Windenmere interest in this matter? I thought, as did almost everyone else, that you supported You-Know-Who."

"We might have, except that Harry Potter is related to the Greengrasses, and that makes him family." Pansy smiled. "Plus, in a couple of years, I will be Lady Black, and I am protecting my claim and stake in this."

Mr. Robards frowned thoughtfully. "Lady Black? Not Lady Potter?"

Harry looked at him. "I would prefer that this not go any further than your ears until my birthday, but Ginny Weasley will be Lady Potter after she finishes Hogwarts and Hermione Granger will be Lady Montrose."

Mr. Robards blinked. "I don't know whether to pity you or envy you." He thought for a minute. "My goodness, this is going to change the social standing of almost every family, especially if you do manage to end the current problem."

He thought about it for another minute. "You have given me a lot to think about, Mr. Potter. I would like to meet with you again in a week, after I've had time to think about it."

Harry nodded. "Send an owl to Hermione with the date and time and she'll get back to you. I'll be glad to talk to you again."

They made their goodbyes and the two teenagers left. They were in the elevator when it stopped and Percy Weasley got on with Delores Umbridge.

Harry ignored them both, even though Umbridge glared at him until the elevator stopped again. "You'll get yours, Potter," she hissed as she followed Percy off.

Harry just looked at her. "Be careful with your words, Ma'am," he said, staring at her. "Sometimes they can come back to haunt you."

The elevator doors closed before either of them could say anything more and Pansy frowned at Harry. "One enemy at a time, Harry."

"She's not an enemy," Harry said quietly, "merely an annoyance that will be dealt with quite soon."

_**OoOoOoO Hermione and Ginny, the Shades of Grey office, 1000 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

"And that will give the names of all the people that have survived an attack by Death Eaters. By cross referencing that list with the lists of those that died, we'll have a starting point to find anybody that is related to people attacked by Voldemort's people." Hermione passed the parchment to Ginny that had the instructions on how to use the system that Hermione had created to find the people Harry had created the Victim's Relief Fund for.

Ginny smiled at Hermione and gave her a hug. "Thanks Hermione. I would have taken a week or more to come up with a system that worked."

Hermione shrugged. "It's merely a different way of looking at things. Muggles depend on logical progressions, so databases like this are easy to make. Wizards tend to work more on intuition, and a more circular thought pattern."

Ginny stared at Hermione for a minute. "You do realize that I barely understand what you're talking about, don't you?"

Before they could continue their conversation, Moody and Alicia entered the office together. "Hello, Hermione," Alicia said. "Mr. Moody here says I'm supposed to talk to you about scheduling training time at the Inferno."

Ginny grabbed the paper and stood up. "I've heard enough logic for one day," she said hastily, "so I'll leave you three to your discussion and get started." She left, going into the other room.

Hermione pulled out a fresh sheet of paper. "Mr. Moody, if you would tell me when the Inferno will be operating, I'll make up the schedule for everyone that will be attending sessions there."

_**OoOoOoO Ron, Luna and Neville, Diagon Alley, 1000 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

"Hello, Neville. How are you?" The three of them turned. Susan Bones was walking toward them and even Ron could tell that she was having a problem. Her eyes were red and bloodshot, and she was in need of a bit of personal grooming.

Neville Longbottom stepped closer to her. "What's wrong, Susan?"

"Hannah was laid to rest about an hour ago," she said quietly. "Only three people were there, and only one of them was an Abbott."

Neville and Ron looked at each other. "I thought there were more Abbotts than that," Ron said quietly.

"Not anymore," Luna said just as quietly. "I believe that the last Abbott is Johnathan Abbott, and he's only seven."

Susan nodded. "He was one of the people there. I didn't know the other person."

Neville held out his hand. "Why don't you come with us? You could use the company, and we're not doing anything dangerous today."

Susan looked at him. "Why not? I will need to stop by a Floo and tell Mother that I'm going to be late."

Luna smiled. "This is nice. With four people we have a chance of seeing a Vanishing Galleon."

The other three looked at her in puzzlement, but it was Ron that asked the question. "Luna, what exactly is a Vanishing Galleon?"

Luna looked at him, and the slightest of smiles tilted her lips. "Have you ever been walking down the street and thought you saw something, like a Galleon out of the corner of your eye?"

The other three nodded slowly. "That was a Vanishing Galleon. It can assume any shape, but you can only see it from the corner of your eye. When you look at it directly, it vanishes."

The three students looked at each other. "That would explain why..." Neville shook his head. "What am I thinking?"

"Maybe," said Luna, as she started toward the Apothecary, "you're beginning to understand what Shakespeare meant when he said 'There are more things between Heaven and Hell, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'"

Ron was about to say something when Luna spoke and he stopped as he puzzled his way through the quote. He looked at Luna thoughtfully. That was the second time this week she'd said something that made him stop and think. She looked at him and that faint smile was still there. "Don't worry about it, Ronald. That's just the way it will be."

She turned to Susan and began instructing her on how to catch a Vanishing Galleon.

_**OoOoOoO The Families, Windenmere Hall, 1000 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

"And so, in exchange for helping us escape Voldemort, Mr. Potter is asking us to look into something for him. Before I tell the people who volunteer exactly what that is, they will be taking an unbreakable oath for Mr. Potter. All I can tell you right now is that it will be Dark and dangerous, most likely."

He looked at the assembled people. Every member of the Windenmere group that had joined Harry Potter was there, from the age of sixteen and up. "In addition to that, he has asked for a few people to be trained to fight Death Eaters. I will now open the floor to discussion. The question is simple. Do we tell Mr. Potter that we have a fully trained group that could be ready today?"

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Pansy and Remus, Spell Damage Ward, St. Mungo's, 1100 08JUL97 OoOoOoO**_

Remus looked up as Harry and Pansy came in. "Hello, Harry. There's been no change, and she hasn't woken since I got back." Harry nodded and came to stand next to Remus. Pansy waited by the door as Harry looked at Remus.

"You need some rest, Remus," Harry said quietly. "Hermione is going to get someone to watch over Tonks, and after she talks to you, get some rest."

Remus raised an eyebrow and studied Harry. "You're growing up, cub," he said quietly, "but you're not that big yet."

Harry looked at Remus. "Maybe I'm not old enough to make that an order," he said quietly, "but I can say this. If something happens to Tonks because you were too tired to react properly or fast enough, I will make you regret it."

Remus looked at Harry, an angry report on his lips until he saw Harry's face. Harry was looking at Tonks and his face was a mixture of naked emotions. "Did you know that Tonks is the first family member I've had that I actually liked? Before her, there was only the Dursleys, and I cannot say I liked any of them." He sighed. "And now she nearly died because she followed me into something." Remus heard the unspoken end to that comment, 'just as Sirius did.' and winced.

"Harry, Tonks is an Auror," he said, taking the sleeping woman's hand. "She will be in this fight whether she follows you or not. The only difference is that by following you, she knows that she'll never be left behind or abandoned."

Harry sighed again, becoming depressed. "And she's still in a hospital bed, having barely survived. How many times can she do this before her luck runs out?"

Remus looked at Harry and a smile crossed his face. "I don't know. How many times have you woken up in the Infirmary?"

Harry glanced at Remus. "That makes me feel so much better."

Remus shrugged. "Maybe you should think about how we feel every time we're sitting around a bed waiting for you to wake up, or awaiting another owl telling us how you are."

"Maybe the two of you should fuss at each other somewhere else. Some of us are trying to sleep. Hello, Remus. Wotcher, Harry." Remus had forgotten Harry at Tonks' first words and Harry was an instant behind him. Tonks was looking at Remus through half opened eyes. Remus smiled, and it made years fall away from his face.

"You scared me, love," he said softly. "I wish you wouldn't do that."

Tonks smiled. "I might just do it again, if it makes you call me pet names in front of others." Her words were light hearted, but the look she gave Remus was full of love and more serious emotions.

Harry smiled, reassured that she would heal eventually and turned to go. "Take care of her, Remus. Hermione will be here with somebody to watch over her Tonks. She has something she needs your help on, and you need to get some rest." Harry looked at him. "That's not an order, Remus, merely an observation." Harry gripped Remus' shoulder for a second. "She won't heal any faster with you wearing yourself out." He looked at Tonks, but she had fallen asleep again, a faint smile on her face and her hand still holding Remus' hand. Harry and Pansy said goodbye to Remus and walked out of the room. Harry looked at Pansy. "What's next on the list?"

Pansy handed him another Portkey string. "We're off to get your new Broomstick. Due to your offer, you're getting the first Comet 310 to be made."

Harry sighed. "I bet it's not as good as my Firebolt is."

Pansy shook her head. "Boys and Quidditch, I swear. You are all obsessed."

Harry grinned at her. "It's not only the boys, look at Cho and Ginny." A shadow passed over his face as he remembered Cho Chang and her fate just two days ago. He pushed it away with an effort. "And that's without mentioning the finest Chaser team in Gryffindor history."

Pansy sighed as she stepped outside St. Mungo's and waited for Harry to hold out the Portkey. "Great. I'm surrounded by Quidditch nuts. I'm going to have to learn the rules just so I know what you're talking about."

_**OoOoOoO Shacklebolt and Wilkes, Auror Headquarters, 1300 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

"All set, Auror Shacklebolt. The memories will be ready for your retrieval in three days." Kingsley nodded and rejoined Amanda. He told her what the recorder had said.

Amanda Wilkes stood up and they started toward the door. They had barely opened it when a paper note started fluttering around Shacklebolt's head. He reached up and grabbed it from the air with the ease of long practice. He read it and looked at Amanda. "The Minister has summoned us both."

Amanda Wilkes looked at him with a frown. "I wonder what this is about?"

Kingsley snorted as he started toward the Minister's office. "What else? Harry Potter of course."

They were ushered into the Minister's office as soon as they arrived and told to sit down. Minister Scrimgeour looked at Shacklebolt. "Mr. Potter has been a busy young man this last week. Have you been following the Daily Prophet?"

Kingsley had, but he wasn't about to admit that. "I've been rather busy myself," he said, "following Harry around has become a full time job."

The Minister picked up a paper and opened it. "Listen to this."

"_Harry Potter stops attack on Diagon Alley._" Scrimgeour looked at Shacklebolt. "Not a bad headline. If it makes the public feel better, it's a great headline. On the other hand, I could do without this kind of reporting." He read a portion of the story.

"_Harry Potter has shown us twice that the forces of You-Know-Who are not invincible, which is more than the Ministry has done. One has wonder exactly what the Ministry is doing in these Dark times. One Minister has already been sacked for his handling of the You-Know-Who situation. Is the second one about to go the same way?" _ The Minister looked at Shacklebolt. "You two seem to be close to Mr. Potter. I want to open an unofficial dialog with him. Ask him what he wants in return for being seen as a supporter of the Ministry. If it is not unreasonable, I'll make it happen."

Kingsley frowned. "What if Mr. Potter doesn't want to help you?"

The Minister sighed. "In that case, I can only continue as I have been and Mr. Potter will have to deal with another Minister, probably quite soon."

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Pansy, Mrs Longbottom and Mr. & Mrs. Weasley, 1200 08JUL97 OoOoOoO**_

Harry and Pansy had arrived just in time for lunch and had enjoyed a good meal. The conversation had been a bit embarrassing for Harry, as everyone had been very interested in which of the stories in the paper had been true and which were someone's imagination.

After the meal was over the two teenagers had retired to the suite Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were staying in with the adults. Mrs. Longbottom had gone to oversee the preparations for her meeting a bit later.

Harry looked around the rooms the older Weasleys had been staying in and sat down in a chair. He looked at them with a smile. "Now that we're all fed, how much arguing are we going to do about the rebuilding of the Burrow?"

Molly sighed. "Not as much as we would have done the day after the fire, Harry."

Harry blinked, that not being what he had expected. "What happened? I was expecting you to marshalled all your arguments by now, and have a thousand reasons why I shouldn't help."

Arthur sighed. "That was exactly what we were doing, until each of our children came by and gave us some money to help rebuild our home. Even Ginny had some, which surprised us no end." He gave Harry a sharp look. "You wouldn't know anything about the company she works for, would you?"

Arthur and Molly were watching him and Harry coloured slightly. "I might know a bit about it, but you will not find it in any list of the Black or Potter properties that I inherited. To be honest, I'm not sure who the public owners of the company are."

"Nicholas Sharpstar is listed as the public owner, but it's in a holding company with private funding, which means that he doesn't have to reveal who his partners are. On the other hand, his 'partners' have been doing some very strange things. Hiring an inexperienced and underage girl at a very high salary, opening a charitable fund for the victims of You-Know-Who and most tellingly, the company has no obvious purpose." Arthur was watching Harry intently. "When a new company starts up, they generally have a way to make money before they have anything else. For example, Fred and George's shop sells pranks. The Shades of Grey company, on the other hand, doesn't have anything like that."

Molly sighed. "It does have your touch all over though, Harry. Charitable funds, much like buying Ron's robes, hiring Ginny, things like that."

Harry frowned. "I hadn't realized that it was that obvious," he confessed. "I'll have to do something about that." He looked at the Weasleys. "I had thought of something that I thought you might accept. Your family's association with me is going to make you a very prominent target for Moldywart. If you will allow me to pay for the wards and one room, I won't make any fuss about the rest of it."

Arthur and Molly looked at each other. "Harry, you don't need to pay for anything." Molly offered.

"We have enough to rebuild it as it was," Arthur added.

Harry sighed. "As it was, maybe, but where will you put the grandchildren, or constant visitors like me? Bill's getting married this summer, and the twins seem very attached to a couple of girls, so there may be more marriages in the near Weasley future. You'll have to have room for them."

Molly looked up. "Fred and George, dating? Who? Are they good girls?"

Harry sent a quelling glance at Pansy, who was snickering. "Yes, they are dating two girls from their year in Hogwarts, and yes, they're good girls. I would prefer, however, that you not let the twins know that I told you that. They will come forward in their own time."

Pansy smirked. "You just don't want to give them a reason to start a prank war."

Harry shrugged. "I don't have time to give pranks the time they deserve." He turned his attention back to the Weasleys. "Do we have a deal? I have to tell you that I'm learning to be stubborn from Ginny."

Arthur smiled faintly. "She can be a bit stubborn at times."

Molly sighed. "The wards only, Harry. None of our children are paying for their room."

Harry's eyes were shining as he hugged Molly. "Thank you."

_**OoOoOoO The Wizengamot, Trial room one, 1400, 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry sat down in a spectator's seat, looking around. Almost everyone that had been at the attack on the Burrow was here, as well as most of the professors from Hogwarts. Harry hadn't even known that Snape was going to be tried today until Pansy handed him the Portkey from the Longbottom estate and told him where they were going.

Since then, Pansy had been hard pressed to keep Harry's magic from flaring up. It had gotten a little easier when they arrived at the trail room and Ginny and Hermione had joined them, but Harry's eyes were still glittering, and the faintest feel of his magic was surrounding him.

The Wizengamot filed in and Harry studied them carefully. He grinned as Neville's grandmother took the Longbottom seat. That was one vote for a Kiss. He frowned as Mrs. Malfoy took the Malfoy seat, next to Bole and Crabbe. Narcissa saw Harry and his curiosity flared for a minute. That was possibly the first time he'd seen any Malfoy look at him without sneering or glaring.

"Bring in the Prisoner."

Harry's attention was caught by that. He watched as two Aurors led Snape into the room and sat him in the chair Harry remembered so vividly. The chains came up and wrapped Snape up, with a cap covering the stump of his right arm where Harry's spell had removed the hand.

Wizard Markus Inkee, acting as the Wizengamot Supreme Mugwump until a new one was chosen stood at the dais. "Severus Snape, you are here to answer charges of being a Death Eater. How do you plead?"

Snape looked up. "Guilty, but with extenuating circumstances."

Wizard Inkee continued as murmurs ran around the courtroom. "Severus Snape, you are charged with attacking Hogwarts in the company of other Dark creatures and Wizards. How do you plead?"

"Guilty, but with extenuating circumstances."

Severus Snape, you are charged with the murder of Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, using the Avada Kedavra. How do you plead?"

"Guilty, but with extenuating circumstances."

"Severus Snape, you are charged with conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of James and Lily Potter. How do you plead?"

"Guilty, but with extenuating circumstances."

"Severus Snape, you are charged with consorting with You-Know-Who and, by your silence, conspiracy in every crime of the Dark Lord. How do you plead?"

"Guilty, but with extenuating circumstances."

"So be it. Severus Snape, by pleading guilty, you have forfeited your right to a trial. Do you need representation?"

"I do not. I am prepared to defend my actions before the Wizengamot."

Harry was tensing up and only the touch of Ginny and Hermione's hands, seated on each side of him, kept him from doing something extreme to Snape. "If he goes free," Harry said softly, glaring at Snape, "I will find him again, and this time no one is going to talk me out of anything."

Wizard Inkee looked at Snape. "You have stated that you have a reason for all the crimes you are accused of. Speak now."

Snape rattled his chains. "May I stand?"

"No. Your physical comfort is of no importance now."

Snape shrugged as best he could with the chains on. "In March of 1979, Albus Dumbledore came to me, asking me to spy on the Dark Lord. He taught me Occlumency and assisted me in a cover story. I made contact with a Death Eater, and was introduced to the Dark Lord. Since then, I have been Albus Dumbledore's spy inside the Death Eaters. As the Supreme Mugwump, he had the power and the right to absolve me of blame for the things I did to maintain that cover."

Snape cleared his throat and looked at the Wizengamot. "I did use an Unforgivable on Headmaster Dumbledore, under the influence of not one, but two Unbreakable Vows. The first was to Albus Dumbledore, swearing to serve him to the best of my ability in defeating the Dark Lord. The second was to Narcissa Malfoy, and it was simply to help Draco survive the school year. He had some sort of mission and had he failed, he would have been killed by the Dark Lord. I did not know the terms of his mission when I made the vow."

Everyone turned to look at Narcissa. She stood up, her face expressionless. "I did not know the details of the mission my son was given either, I merely knew that it was important to the Dark Lord and that Draco was terrified about it. I went to Snape to make sure my only child lived. I did not know what the consequences of that decision would be." She took a deep breath and stood proudly. "Even now, knowing the cost, I would do it again. Draco is my only child, and the only one I will ever have. I will do whatever it takes to save him."

Harry frowned as a touch of pity for Narcissa impinged on the anger and hate for the Malfoys. She was caught between a rock and a hard place. In her place, Harry might have done the same.

Wizard Inkee cleared his throat, bringing all eyes back to him. "I must admit, that after the first fall of You-Know-Who, Albus Dumbledore stood in this very place and defended Snape as a Light Wizard. I must assume that he did know about Mr. Snape's hidden agenda."

Harry snarled and Magic exploded, drawing all eyes to him. He stood up, shaking off the hands that tried to hold him down. "Sir, may I speak? I think I may shed some light on this Death Eater's testimony."

More murmurs broke out until Inkee raised his hands. "Mr. Potter, the only testimony allowed here mus be from your direct experience. You are not old enough to have a memory of most of these events."

Harry shook his head. "I do not, but I was present for the death of Professor Dumbledore, and I am prepared to testify that Professor Dumbledore was asking Snape not to kill him when he was murdered."

Snape shouted over the rising talk. "You lie, Potter. There were only five people there."

Harry turned his head and glared at Snape, his temper flaring and the first tendrils of magic touching the people closest to him. "Six, Snivellus." Harry was past caring what anyone thought of what he said. This Death Eater was not going to walk away by lying about his crimes. "I was there, under my father's Invisibility Cloak. Professor Dumbledore and I were doing something when the word of the attack on Hogwarts reached us. We arrived on the tower where Draco found us and Professor Dumbledore cast a _Petrificus Totalus_ on me. I watched as Draco came up and couldn't bring himself to kill Professor Dumbledore. Then you and the others arrived, and Professor Dumbledore begged you not to kill him, but you murdered him in cold blood anyway."

Harry shuddered, reliving that terrible moment. He looked at the Wizengamot. "Snape lies about other parts of his story as well, but since those memories are only of being told about it, you will not accept them. I was there for Professor Dumbledore's murder though, and I am willing to give that memory up for examination to anyone that wants to see it."

Markus Inkee looked at the young man, who had returned to glaring at Snape. The thought that letting Snape go would be as certain a death sentence as being Kissed crossed his mind, but he pushed it away. "Mr. Potter, are you willing to be questioned under Veritaserum?"

Harry looked at him. "On two conditions. First, the questions only have to do with the scene of Professor Dumbledore's death, and second, that no question is asked about what the Headmaster and I were doing. Those things would complicate certain things I am doing right now, and possibly get people killed if Voldemort found out about them." Harry rolled his eyes as almost everyone shuddered.

"Mr. Potter, I would ask that you not use that name."

Harry rubbed his face until he could control his voice. "Fine. Since grown men are afraid of a few sounds, I will call him Moldywart." Before anyone could do anything but stare at Harry in shocked horror, Harry started a tale he'd told a dozen times already. "Moldywart was born Tom Marvolo Riddle, the son of a Muggle and the only daughter of the Gaunts, Salazar Slytherin's last living descendants. Since she was not only ugly but severely inbred to boot, the Muggle was entranced by a love potion."

The Wizengamot sat frozen as Harry told them everything he knew about Riddle, leaving out only the Horcruxes and the prophecy.

"Now, he searches for something to make him completely immortal. I don't think that would be good for me or my family, so I plan on stopping him."

The Wizengamot was silent as they stared at Harry. The spectators were just as quiet, except for the scratch of a quill. Harry looked over at the only sound in the chamber and was not surprised to see Rita Skeeter. "That's not a Quik Quotes Quill, is it?"

Rita looked up. "No. I don't think a Quik Quotes could improve this story."

Harry nodded. "Come see me later this week, and I'll tell you about Riddle cleaning the bathrooms in Hogwarts in his first year."

"Mr. Potter, can you prove any of what you've just said?"

Harry smiled. "I can, if you would accept the memories of Professor Dumbledore as evidence. I have every single memory of Tom Riddle that he had in his own Pensieve."

The Wizengamot broke out in shock. Markus Inkee took almost a minute to restore order. "Mr. Potter, we will ask you to bring those memories by later, but right now, we will see your memory of the night Headmaster Dumbledore died, so that we can finish this trial."

Harry walked down to the Wizengamot seats. "If you have a Pensieve, I will give you the memory right now, before everyone, so that you can all see that it is my memory and there is no trickery."

A Pensieve was brought out and Harry placed his wand to his temple, concentrating on the scene at the top of the tower. He put the resulting mass of silvery thread in the Pensieve. "I will ask to get that back. I would not forget even the worst moment of the time I knew Professor Dumbledore."

Markus Inkee pointed at four other Wizengamot members. "We will view the memory and report on what it shows."

The chamber was deathly silent as they looked at the memory. When they looked up again, everyone waited on their verdict.

_**OoOoOoO Lucifer, London, 1400 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Lucifer sat in the dimly lit room and dreamed of the day he would become the Lord's right hand. This assignment to find and kill the enemies of Satan that hid in the normal world was a beginning. He reached out and took the sacrificial knife in his hand. Idlely, he cut a small nick in his finger and sicked the blood, using the taste to remind him of other blood, blood that had flowed in far greater amounts.

He snarled as blissful memories of honouring Lord Satan with death after death was interrupted. His follower's first words changed that.

"Lucifer, we have all of the addresses Lord Satan asked for."

Lucifer looked at the sheet of paper that his follower held out. "Good work. The Lord will be pleased. Get a map and find every one of those addresses on it. Mark them well and have one of our people drive to each one. Do not attract attention, but be sure that one of you can find each house easily."

Lucifer smiled as his followers went to do his bidding. Soon, the enemies of the Lord Satan would be no more.

His only regret was that there weren't more of them. He rang a small bell and put the knife back in the sheath made of the skin of his first sacrifice. When his servant appeared he looked at her. "Prepare the van. We shall find a victim and tonight, she will be given to our Lord." He sneered, watching the woman flinch. "I think we shall make this a full Sabbat ritual."

_**OoOoOoO Fred and George, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, 1400 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Fred looked at the note Harry had given them. "I can't find anything dangerous, but the mere fact that we can't read it makes me nervous."

George agreed. "I think it might be safe, but I would hate to be wrong. Whoever cast the spell was too bloody good for my peace of mind."

"Too right. Maybe we should see if Miranda knows anything about the spell they used. She was trained at Durmstrang, and if anyone would recognize a Dark spell, it would be her."

George grinned. "Unless you would like to ask the one Harry calls Moldywart. I'm certain he would recognize any Dark spell."

Fred shook his head. "No, Gred, I'll pass on that."

"I'll go see Ginny, she should know where to find Hermione and Miranda."

_**OoOoOoO Voldemort and Bella, Somewhere, 1400 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Bella was humming a tune under her breath and Voldemort looked at her fondly. Bella was easily the most loyal person following him despite, or maybe because of, her insanity. "Bella, when you return from your duel, you shall take Lucius' place as my favorite." It would be only right, if she killed a Defender in single combat, and Lucius was becoming a liability anyway. Not to mention, Potter had made a very interesting offer.

Bella stared at him for a second and then dropped to her knees. "Thank you, my Lord. I shall not fail you."

Voldemort rested a hand on her head, feeling her quiver under his hand. "I know you will not. You, better than anyone, know the price of failure, don't you?"

Bella shuddered and her voice was low. "I do, my Lord."

Voldemort raised her to her feet. "When you have killed the Defender, inform Mr. Potter that I would speak with him, just us two. Tell him he may bring as many people as he wishes, and that he may take any precaution he wants, so long as they do not threaten us unless we do something."

Bella looked up. "Why, my Lord?"

Voldemort spun, looking out the small window. "Albus Dumbledore spent years protecting him, and with that prophecy, I wonder what Harry knows that I do not. Harry Potter is the only one that can tell me, and he made me an offer that I am considering. Plus, if we are that close, I might be able to get something out of his mind without him knowing."

Bellatrix nodded. "I will make the offer while he is still bound not to hurt me, my Lord. I could be injured bad enough that I cannot speak to him afterwards."

Voldemort nodded. "Good thinking, Bella. Make sure he knows this is only a parley."

"Yes, my Lord."

_**OoOoOoO The Wizengamot, 1500 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

The five Wizengamot members returned to their seats. Markus Inkee stood at the dais again. "We have seen the memory of Harry James Potter and it is the decision of the five of us that it is a true memory. In addition, it shows exactly the scene Mr. Potter described."

He looked at Snape, and the anger was bright in his eyes. "Severus Snape, all counts are dropped at this time, until we have evidence one way or another of your relationship with Albus Dumbledore. All charges but one."

"Severus Snape, you are found guilty of the murder of Albus Dumbledore, using an Unforgivable." Wizard Inkee looked at Severus. "Given the nature of the crime and the person murdered, I would ask the Wizengamot to have you Kissed instead of imprisoned."

He looked around. "Severus Snape is guilty. You know what he has done. The question remains of his punishment. All those for life imprisonment in Azkaban, show a light."

Harry watched as a very few lights were raised. Markus Inkee counted them. "All those for administering the Dementor's Kiss, raise a light."

Harry smiled vindictively as a small forest of lights came up. It took the acting Supreme Mugwump a while longer to count the lights. "If any member of the Wizengamot wishes to ask for another punishment, speak now." He waited a few seconds until it was plain no one was going to ask for another punishment.

"Then by a count of fourteen to one hundred and nine, Severus Snape is sentenced to be Kissed. This trial is over."

The two Aurors moved up as Snape's chains fell off of him. The first Auror grabbed Snape by the arm and before the second one could get around to the other side, the first Auror and Snape disappeared.

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Hermione, Miranda and others, WWW, 1800 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

"And that's the whole story, Harry. We can't find anything wrong with it, but we can't pierce the enchantment that keeps us from reading it either. That means that there may be something on it that we simply don't recognize."

Harry regarded the letter carefully. He frowned and concentrated for a minute. The others in the room shivered as his magic swept out and the letter began glowing. Harry held it for a second and then relaxed. "I can't find anything either, not even a trace of ill will from the writer."

Hermione looked up. "Harry, what did you just do?"

Harry shrugged, thinking about how to put it into words. "I wanted to know how the person that wrote the letter felt about me, and if there was anything Dark on it. I concentrated on wanting that, and released my magic."

Hermione looked at him for a minute and then slumped, dropping her head in her hands. "I just wanted it," she muttered as the rest of the people around her smiled behind their hands. "I wanted it." She looked up, glaring at Harry. "Harry, you are the most exasperating person."

Harry smiled at her, touching her cheek with the back of his hand, caressing her softly. "You love me anyway, don't you, Hermione?"

"Of course, but you're still exasperating."

Harry smiled and turned his attention back to the letter. As he studied it, he thought about all the things it could be. He snarled inwardly as he thought again about Snape's escape. At least one good thing was coming of that. Every single Ministry employee was to be questioned under Veritaserum about their loyalties. Any that didn't pass would be canned on the spot and their name sent to the Aurors. It had not really surprised Harry to find out that the Auror that had disappeared with Snape had been Dawlish's partner.

Harry pushed those thoughts out of his head and took a deep breath. He reached out and picked up the letter. Harry had given the envelope the letter came in to the twins, and this was the first time he'd touched the letter itself.

Everyone froze as the letter glowed for a second and then faded. Harry looked at it.

"_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_You do not know me, but I of course know about you. Some years ago, a member of the Potter family saved the life of one of my clan. Since then, we have been unable to discharge the Lifedebt of that person. Now, you are involved in something that makes it imperative that you live. As the last Potter, if you die, we will never be free of the Lifedebt we owe. In the furtherance of our debt and your mission, I have some things that could help you._

_These things will be delivered to the time and place of your choosing. Simply write the time and place at the bottom of this note and I will know when and where you wish to take delivery of these things._

_With great respect,_

_Nobusuke Kitasato"_

Remus jerked at the name. "Say that again, Harry." Harry repeated the name and Remus frowned. "That name sounds familiar. James had a fight once with his father, and that sounds like the name they were fighting about." Remus thought about it some more. "I don't remember any more than that. I could even be wrong about the name. It has been more than twenty years."

Harry sighed and looked at Hermione. "Can you stand one more thing to look into, or are you busy?"

Hermione frowned. "I am very busy, but I could pass that to Missy Mishima. She's a Muggleborn Witch who happens to be Japanese. She knows more than anyone I know about Japan and the Wizards there."

Harry frowned. "Just ask her about the name. Don't give her any hints about why you need it looked into, or who it's for."

Hermione nodded and copied the name down. Harry tucked the letter in his robes and sighed. "Fred, did you make a schedule for your group?"

"Yes, Hermione worked it out. The Diagon Alley Defense Group will be using the Inferno three times a week. The times are shared with some of your people in the Order Without a Name, so that our tactics are the same."

Harry nodded. "Does anyone have anything further?"

Several small questions and comment were made, but no one had anything of major importance to add. Harry looked at Miranda. "Since there is only one thing left to do today, why don't you tell us what you can about where we're going, and what protections we will have."

Miranda stood up and looked around. "We are going to a secret location after we meet with Mrs. Lestrange. The four of us will take a Portkey to the Fifth Level and Miss Weasley and Mr. Potter will wait in the observer's booth, where they can see the entire room Bella and I will enter. Bella and I will duel, and one of us will come out of there alive. After that, the three survivors will use the Portkey to return to the Wicker Basket. Please remember that no matter who wins, no violence can be started by either of you unless the duellist attacks you. Once you have parted at the Wicker Basket, that ends and you are free to hunt each other down."

Harry nodded. "What protection will we have against Death Eaters in the Fifth Level?"

Miranda smirked. "Only two Defenders can make the Portkeys that go into the Fifth Level. If anyone else attempts to make one into that area, it is shunted away, directly into our holding cells, where magic doesn't work. We go down there and clean them out every forty years."

Ron blinked. "Who feeds the prisoners?"

Miranda just looked at him. "That's why we have to clean them out." Ron finally got the hint. He looked sick. The thought of starving to death was not on Ron's top ten ways to die. Ron's obsession with food meant that he didn't even think that the prisoners would die of thirst long before they starved.

Harry nodded and thought about it. "So we're covered until we return. What about from the Wicker Basket back to here?"

"Some of my people and I will be watching the Basket," said Moody, "and Miss Granger has a Portkey ready for when you return. I assume she'll give it to you before you leave."

Hermione nodded and Fred looked at her. "Hermione, you've been making Portkeys left and right for the last week. How come there are no Ministry owls telling you that Portkeys are restricted?"

Hermione smirked. "Some of us, wanting to avoid official notice, might have gone down to the Ministry and dug through that mess they call the Department of Magical Licencing until we found the proper permits and filled them out."

George frowned. "How did you get it approved so quickly? It took us three weeks just to get a licence to run the shop."

Hermione pulled out a thick book. Ron sighed. "'Hogwarts, A History' can't have that much information in it."

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It doesn't, but "The Complete Guide to Ministry Regulations, Laws, Guidelines and Rules" does have that much and more."

Pansy rubbed her temples. "Hermione, this obsession with books has to be unhealthy."

Harry took the book from Hermione and looked in the table of contents. "Have you read the entire thing yet?"

Hermione shook her head. "I only have one hour a day to read it, the rest of my time is scheduled for other things."

Ginny giggled. "She even has 'sleeping with Harry' and 'snogging Harry' time scheduled."

Hermione blushed as everyone looked at her with expressions ranging from disbelief (Pansy) to smiles (Ron and Harry). "What? Between his sixteen hour days and my eighteen hour days, I had to make some time for that, or we'd never get any sleeping or kissing."

Harry looked at her curiously. "What do you do for that extra two hours?"

Hermione blushed. "I read the Ministry book."

Ginny frowned. "Wait a minute, you just said you only read it for an hour. What about the other hour?"

Pansy sighed. "She usually spends it with me." She looked at the suddenly silent room. "Not doing that, you wankers. Hermione and I discuss the Windenmere group, old family customs and other Wizard things that she doesn't know."

Ron dropped to his knees, staring at Pansy in shock. "You mean there's something Hermione doesn't know?" he said incredulously. "It can't be. Hermione knows everything."

Hermione glared at Ron until she realized that he was only teasing. "Ronald Weasley," she said, pretending to be angry with him, "would you like to see how well I know my shrinking charms?" She pulled her wand as she spoke, and the direction it was pointed left no doubts in anyone's mind about what portion of his anatomy she was about to shrink.

Ron ducked behind Harry. "Save me, mate," he said dramatically, "She'd never hex you, and you can kiss her out of her bad mood."

Harry smiled. "I don't know that she wouldn't hex me if I made her angry, but the kissing sounds good."

Hermione blushed. "I cannot be kissed out of a mood, thank you. I do have greater willpower than that."

Harry's eyes lit up. "That sounds like a challenge, Miss Granger. Is it?"

Miranda coughed. "Save that for your room. I have no desire to see you two giving each other dental exams with your tongues."

A rapid round of agreements came from everyone except Pansy and Ginny. Pansy just shrugged. "Equal time, Harry, don't forget that."

Ginny looked at her brothers and didn't say anything, but the smile she turned on Harry left few doubts that she was thinking about the same thing.

Harry shook his head to dispel the pictures running through his mind and cast about for something else to talk about. His eye fell on a copy of the Quibbler. "How did the interview go, Luna?"

Luna smiled. "It seems that public service announcements sell very well. The Prophet and several papers on the continent picked it up, along with a dozen other stories that have been in the papers this week."

Harry looked up. "Have we really been in the paper that often?"

Hermione reached into her book bag and pulled out a thick mass of papers. "In order, there was Rita's first article Tuesday, about the adoptions, before she talked to you. "_Boy Who Lived gains family!"_ is the title, and it is a lot of guesswork along with the known facts, which it seems she got out of the Ministry in a hurry."

She looked at the rest of them. "Wednesday through Friday are fairly tame, just pictures of you in various places and speculation on why you're so much more visible this year. Saturday, that all changed, after the attack on the Burrow."

Harry winced. "I shouldn't even be in that story. Mrs. Weasley, Ginny and Miranda did all the work, and you captured Snape."

Hermione blushed. "Somehow, Rita found out who ripped Snape's hand off, and what spell was used. While the four of us got the majority of the write ups, she has a whole page of speculation about just how strong you are, and why no one has noticed this before."

Hermione smiled. "You'll like this," she said, handing Harry a copy of the Daily Prophet. "Look at pages six through nine."

Harry opened the paper, ignoring the pictures of the Burrow and the Weasleys, turning to page six, where the letters and opinions were normally printed. For this issue, the letters took four pages.

"_Harry Potter should be in the Ministry. Obviously, he can do something about the evil that plagues us these days, which is more than the Ministry can do."_

"_The Boy Who Lived deserves an Order of Merlin, not the trash some people talk about him. He has steadfastly stuck to his wand and told the truth, even when it wasn't popular or people belittled him for it. We need more people like Harry Potter."_

Harry skimmed the letters, finding more of the same sort of thing. He smiled. "I'm on top again. Good. People listen to me more when they think I'm right." He frowned. "Of course, one bad thing I don't stop or prevent will have them screaming for my head again."

He looked at Hermione. "Speaking of that, how's the Death Eater tracking research going?"

Hermione frowned. "I have the basis of an idea, but Remus and Moody are going to have to help me with it, and it's going to be very expensive."

Remus coughed. "If we can do it, Hermione," he said gently. "We don't even know if it can be done on this scale."

Hermione looked stubborn. "If it can be done for Hogwarts, in the detail you have it in, it can be done. We just have to figure out how."

Harry watched them. "Would you mind filling me in on what you're talking about?"

Hermione assumed her lecturing tone, so familiar to Harry and Ron from Hogwarts. "It's a simple idea. Only two groups of people consistently use Apparation in groups. The Aurors, responding to a threat and Death Eaters, going out to cause trouble. Using the Marauder's Map as a basis, I want to create a Map of the Isles that tracks Apparation. If we can eliminate the Aurors from it, any group of four or more Apparations in one place is most likely going to be Death Eaters. Then, we simply check it out using your Portkey idea, Harry."

Moody looked up. "What Portkey idea?"

Hermione smiled at Harry. "Harry had the idea of making a round trip Portkey. When you activate it, it sends you to the destination. After a set amount of time, it automatically brings you back to where you started. If we see a mass Apparation, we send one person to that place, using the Portkey. Three seconds later, after they have enough time to look around, but not enough for anyone to detect them, they are pulled back, and we find out if they're Death Eaters. If they are Disillusioned or invisible, they should be completely undetected, still allowing us to have the element of surprise when we return."

Fred and George looked at each other. "Why didn't we ever think of that?"

"Because there isn't any fun in it?" suggested Ron.

The twins stared at him. "No fun? Are you mad? Imagine for one second that you see something appear in the corner of your eye, but when you look at it, it's gone. Five or six of those flashes would drive anyone nuts."

Harry grinned at them. "So, what's the spell worth to you two? The Granger Portkey is a one of a kind thing you know."

"Granger Portkey?" Hermione said, blushing. "You thought of it, Harry. It should be the Potter Portkey, which sounds better and would sell better."

"No, I thought of an idea, you did the research and the work to make my idea a reality."

"The PG Portkey, then?" offered Hermione practically.

"Make it the GP Portkey, and you've got a deal. You did do the most to make it."

"Fine." Hermione looked at the twins. "We'll discuss the price of the spell and the unit another day. I'm a little too tense to be bargaining with the two of you tonight."

"What unit?" asked Fred.

"Unlike a regular Portkey, you can't make this one out of just anything. It has to have a set of Arithmancy runes that control the return time. I created that rune set and I'm not going to just give it away." Hermione smiled at the twins. "Research is expensive, you know."

Fred looked at George. "We need her. She could add new levels to the store with that mind."

Hermione blushed. "I am just a bit busy this year. See me after I've gotten my NEWTs."

Miranda stood up from the counter she'd been sitting on. "This is fascinating to watch, but it's time to go."

Harry and Ginny cast glamours over themselves, while Fred and George cast another glamour over that. Few people would see through the first glamour, and they didn't think anyone would see through both of them.

The group said their goodbyes with Pansy and Hermione waiting until last to talk to Harry. "I expect you to bring back Ginny and Miranda in one piece, Harry Potter," Hermione said, her face creased with worry. "We'll be waiting."

Pansy frowned at Harry. "You had better be back in one piece as well, Mr. Potter. I would hate to have to tell Mr. Filch that you want one of Mrs. Norris' kittens for yourself."

Harry shivered. "I don't know which threat is worse, that one or the McGonagall one."

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Ginny, Miranda and Bella, 2100, 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry and Ginny had entered the Wicker Basket about a minute ahead of Miranda and ignored her when she came in. Miranda went straight to the bar and ordered a Butterbeer. Someone snickered until she froze them with a scowl.

Miranda stood at the bar, scowling into the mirror and Harry and Ginny were amused to watch everyone leave her alone, even going so far as to vacate the two seats on each side of her.

At least until a drunk man came up to her. He said something to her in a low voice and Miranda just looked at him. He said something else and Miranda stood up, looking around the bar. Her eye fell on Harry and Ginny and she pointed at them. "You two, come here."

Harry and Ginny approached slowly as everyone else cleared a large space around them. "You two will be my witnesses that I am not going to do anything Dark or illegal to this fool." Miranda led them out the back and as soon as they were outside, she held out a small chain. "Everyone grab on."

A few seconds later, the four of them were in a small room and Harry helped Ginny stand up after he stood up. The man dropped his glamour and Bellatrix Lestrange stood there smiling at Miranda. She looked at Harry and Ginny. "You'll have to drop your glamours, so I know which of you is my second."

That was the work of a minute and Bella watched with interest. "Two overlapping glamours. Very nice idea." She thought about it for a second. "Very Slytherin of whomever thought it up. Give them my thanks for such a great idea."

Harry watched Bella curiously. She didn't seem nearly as evil as he knew she was. She looked at him and smiled. "Wondering about me, Potter? I have not changed since our last meeting, but you can wait." She gestured at Miranda. "This kind of challenge comes around maybe once in a lifetime, and it is far more important than you are. If I beat her, I will have done something that no Wizard or Witch has ever done. I will have beaten a Defender in single combat."

Miranda walked over to a wall and touched it with her wand. It became transparent and everyone walked over to it. One the other side was a large room, empty of everything. There were two green doors into the room, one at each end.

"Bella and I will leave here and go down separate corridors. The two hallways end at one of the doors. When both of us are ready, the doors will turn blue. We will step inside and begin our duel. Once we begin, the doors will turn red and they will not open again until one of us is dead. Are there any questions?"

Nobody said anything and she continued. "While we are in there, you two will be watching from here. You will see everything that happens in there, even during the scenery changes. Every three minutes that we are in there, the scenery will change into another type of scenery. Town streets may become the ocean, which may then become a cave."

She looked at the others. "That is all there is to it, and I am ready any time you are, Mrs. Lestrange."

"Oh, please call me Bella, and I will be ready as soon as I have a word with Mr. Potter here. I have to pass a message along." Bella led Harry into the corner and spoke to him. She'd barely begun talking when Harry's magic exploded in a burst of amazed curiosity. He controlled it quickly, but not before Bella blinked and looked at him thoughtfully. She said a few more words and Harry nodded.

They came back to the other two and Bella looked at Harry again. "It's a shame you were too nice to take my Lord up on his offer first year. We could have had such fun together."

The other three looked at each other, shocked to hear Bella echo the box from the Inferno like that and Harry made a mental note to find out more about it.

Miranda and Bella looked at each other for a long minute. "We both know the rules we agreed on," said Miranda. "Bellatrix Lestrange, are you prepared?"

"I am ready. Miranda Riddle-Black, are you prepared?"

"I am."

Harry and Ginny watched as the two women bowed slightly to each other, their eyes never losing contact with the other person.

"Which door would you like to enter?" asked Miranda. "Both of them are the same distance, not that matters since the doors won't open until we're both ready."

"I'll take the door on the right."

The two women walked to their doors and opened them. The doors closed behind them and Harry and Ginny moved to the clear wall. A few seconds later, the doors into the room turned blue and they both opened. The room became an old ruin, with a few standing walls and several clear areas as the doors turned red and faded into the wall.

The Duel had begun.

Neither Harry nor Ginny would ever have the words to properly describe what happened next. Bellatrix Lestrange was older and not as fit, but she had the power of madness and decades of experience to draw on.

Miranda Riddle was younger, far more fit and better trained, but with less than two years experience to work with, and her spells didn't have the sheer strength that Bella's madness gave her.

The fight was fast and furious at first, with both women seeking to end it quickly. Rubble was Transfigured into weapons and animals, which then chased their enemy until destroyed. Spells, Hexes, Jinxes and Curses flew both ways.

By the time the scenery changed the first time, both women were breathing hard and Bella was bleeding from a slight cut on the neck where a Transfigured Knight had nearly gotten her.

Miranda wasn't bleeding yet, but she had a large puffy bruise across one cheek, where a banished rock had grazed her.

The second scene was of a forest and the two women began to slow down, both of them realizing that this would not be a quick fight.

Miranda cast a dozen spells on the forest floor and began working around Bella, counting on speed and spellwork to keep her safe, while Bella depended more on stealth and guile to trick her opponent.

Round two faded into the second scenery change as the forest became a cavern system.

Bella cast a spell that had four of her running around, looking for a target while Miranda gave up on the speed for now and disillusioned herself, sneaking quietly toward the commotion the four Bellas were making.

She cast a swirling blue spell at one of them and it disappeared just as the real Bella caught her with a bludgeoning spell that knocked Miranda head over heels. She came out of the fall in a roll and cast a cutting spell back that Bella narrowly avoided. Bella couldn't avoid the next one though, and her leg was quickly dripping blood.

By the third scene change both women had been running and casting for nine straight minutes. The new scene was the inside of a large warehouse and Bella took a minute to cast a minor healing spell on herself.

Miranda touched her side where the bludgeoning curse had struck her and winced. She closed her eyes for a second and the pain lines eased in her face.

She opened her eyes and looked at the warehouse and all the crates in it. She cast a pair of spells on herself and started casting fire spells everywhere.

Soon the entire place was lit with burning crates, walls and floors. Miranda waited, taking a minute to catch her breath as she watched the area in front of her. With her back against the wall, she had a bit less room to manoeuvre, but she couldn't be snuck up on either.

Bella had cast a spell on herself as soon as the flames started, and then she started walking though the flames. Harry and Ginny knew about the flame freezing spell of course, and they knew that both women had cast that spell on themselves.

Bella came out of a large fire and both women cast spells at the same time.

Bella's _Crucio_ hit for barely a second before she had to release it. Her robes had caught fire on the left side of her body and her hair was about to. She cast another spell on herself as she ducked around another crate that wasn't burning yet.

Harry snapped his fingers in the little room. "_Finite Incantatem_," he said to Ginny. "Miranda cancelled Bella's Flame Freezing spell."

Ginny snickered. "That would be something ironic, if Bella fell to a first year spell."

Harry nodded, watching the two fighters. It appeared that Bella was having a problem. She was hacking and coughing until she cast another spell around her head.

"That's what the second spell Miranda cast was," Ginny said excitedly, "a Bubble-head Charm, so she wouldn't breathe any smoke."

Harry shook his head as the scene changed again. "I'm very glad I'm not in there against either of those women." Ginny agreed wholeheartedly.

The new scene was a simple town street that bore a resemblance to Hogsmeade. Bella and Miranda were barely ten meters apart when the end came and came quickly. Miranda pulled the Kris knife from her robes and threw it at Bella.

Bella Banished it back at Miranda, pushing the knife's speed up to a blur.

Miranda Banished it back, and this time, it was simply moving too fast for Bella to avoid or spell.

The knife hit Bella in the stomach, striking her pommel first but moving so fast that it pushed though, erupting out of her back in a spray of blood and other things.

Bella remained on her feet for a second before crumpling to her knees. Miranda approached carefully, watching her. As she came up to Bella, she paused and bowed formally, giving honour to a worthy fighter.

Bella looked up at her and said something. Miranda nodded and sat next to Bella, who fell over into Miranda's lap. Miranda sat there, stroking Bella's hair as Bellatrix Black-Lestrange died.

_**OoOoOoO Raven, Here and Now. 1420, 15JUL07. OoOoOoO**_

_This is the last chapter where we'll see a lot of time spent on a single day. I am not going to make a fic like the show 24, where every episode is a single hour. From here on out, until we get to the last four or five days, I will try to get at least a week into each chapter. Next, a Chapter of BoB, followed by PoE._

_Now, I mentioned in the AN before the story that I had a few things to say... and here they are._

_First, to all of you that reviewed, good or bad, Thank you. Knowing that I have moved you enough to say anything is half of the fun of writing. To all of you that have alerted this story or me, favorited it (Is that a word, I wonder?) or C2ed it, Thank you. Knowing that you want to read more, or think others should read this is awesome._

_Now, for other comments:_

"_A Reader" made a good many comments, but they were Anon, so I can't do anything but answer here and see if they respond. In your review, you bashed JKR's work, Jeconais' work and mine. I am proud to be in such company. For those of you interested in the review I refer to, it is for chapter three.  
_

_Some people have expressed some concerns about the lifestyles of Hermione and Pansy. One reviewer thought that it showed a lack of morals, another thought it was just freaky, etc. I know people who lead this life, and as a gay woman, I may have a different viewpoint than others, but I don't think that anything that two or more consenting adults do with each other to show love and affection is immoral or freaky. Some people like sex with the man on top, others with the woman on top. BDSM is a bit more extreme than that, but it is just another way to have sex, to show trust and love for another. If the presence of BDSM or slash keeps you from reading this story, I'll be sorry to lose a reader, but it is going to happen._

_As to the morality of it... well, since that depends on your culture, upbring and views, I really can't say anything about it. Personally, if everyone involved is an adult, consenting and willing, I don't think anyone else has any grounds for making a judgement on how people relate to each other._

_Some people have noted a few errors, like Amelia Bones being alive in one chapter and dead in another... and all I can say is Oops. I will correct that, but this is Canon all the way through HBP, so she should have been dead from the get go. Hopefully, my new Betas will keep me on the straight and narrow from now on._

_Another thing I have heard about is the time it takes to update... I try, repeat, try to update one story a week. In order that would be SoG, BoB, PoE and MM&WS. Yes, that means that you have to wait four weeks for each update, assuming nothing goes wrong and I update everything on time. Sorry, and if you want to hold off reading the works until they're finished I will understand. (Of course, if anyone would like to pay me to write forty hours a week instead of going to work, I'm open to that idea.)_

_Last, but not least, I have to thank my new Beta team of **FanFic Guardian** and **Vicki**, who's work on this chapter saved me no end of embarassment, due to their ability to catch typos and silly mistakes. Their input into plot and characterizations was awesome, and this chapter would not be half as good without them._

_Raven_


	11. Revenge and Retribution

_This is your only warning: The Death Eaters are going to be evil this chapter, and there is going to be death and torture. The descriptions will not be graphic, but anyone with the slightest imagination should get the point. After the chapter, I will have more to say, but saying it now would give away the story, and I don't want to do that. Now, on with the end of the duel and the aftermath._

_A quick note, regarding the amount of time this took to be posted: The day after I sent this off to the Betas of Great and Amazing Ability, my laptop's cooling fan died a quick and painless death. Getting the poor thing into the shop, and more importantly, getting it back out took a wee bit of time, and I am informed that the poor beastie is on its last incarnation. If anyone out there knows where I can get a cheap laptop, please drop me an email._

_**Harry Potter and the Shades of Grey**_

_**Chapter Eleven**_

_**Revenge and Retribution.**_

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Ginny and Miranda, The Fifth Level. 2146, 08JUL97 OoOoOoO**_

Harry and Ginny hurried through the door that had led Miranda to the chamber where she had fought Bellatrix and opened the door. Miranda still sat on the floor, holding Bella's head and looking at nothing. She glanced at Harry and Ginny before gently laying Bella's head on the floor and rising. "Mr. Potter, Bella asked me to ask you if you would bury her in the Black cemetery, next to her mother."

Harry and Ginny crossed to Miranda and Harry nodded. "I will, although it will be a private affair. I don't want people despoiling the other graves there looking for her burial site."

Miranda nodded. She turned slowly to Harry. "And with that finished, I think I need a healer."

Miranda collapsed, sliding to the floor as if she was suddenly boneless. Ginny beat Harry to her by a step and cast a spell Harry didn't know on her. A minute later she looked up at Harry. "We have to get her to a healer now. Most of the ribs on her right side are shattered. She's bleeding out internally."

_**OoOoOoO Voldemort, Somewhere in England, 2140, 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Tom Riddle turned to the last of the Lestranges and spoke calmly. "Take your team and do the job I gave you." Voldemort had limited contact with everyone that bore his Mark, and he knew that Bellatrix had died. He would have to wait to find out if she'd taken the Defender with her, but he'd known as soon as she died.

Rudolphus Lestrange nodded and turned to leave, anger crossing his face. That they were going on this mission meant that Bella had failed and was dead. Rabastin had been married to her, and Rudolphus hadn't even particularly liked Bella, but she was family.

It was time to make somebody pay for her death.

Voldemort watched Lestrange leave and thought. When the news of Bella's death hit the public, his standing was going to take a huge blow. Bellatrix's insane power had been one of the things people whispered about at night while looking over their shoulder. He took a minute to wonder if she'd done as she said she was going to do and given Potter the message before the duel. He'd know soon enough, he guessed, if Potter was serious about the offer he'd made.

He looked around. "Lucius. I have a job for your family. Bring Narcissa and Draco to me tomorrow."

Lucius nodded. "Yes, my Lord." His face was blank, but Voldemort could almost feel the fear in the man. He knew his place was slipping and he had to be wondering if he would be alive this time tomorrow.

Voldemort decided to ease those fears so that Lucius didn't try to flee now. "If your mission succeeds, Lucius, your place at my right hand will be secured for many years to come, despite young Draco's failure at Hogwarts. If you fail..." Voldemort cocked his head, considering Potter's actions lately. "I don't think you'll return."

Lucius bowed, relieved that he would be getting a chance to redeem Draco's mistake. "Thank you, my Lord. I will not fail you again."

Voldemort nodded and looked at Severus Snape. "Potter has become a serious problem, Severus. I am going to take steps to negate that, but I want you to do something for me, just in case."

Snape bowed. "With pleasure, my Lord."

"I still have a few people inside Hogwarts. I want you to brew your best poison, one that can be given to Potter without my agent being caught."

Severus Snape smiled. "I have a very nice poison in mind, my Lord." Snape was already running through the things he would need to brew the poison known as Betrayal and the time it would take. "It will be ready in three weeks."

Voldemort nodded and told everyone to go. After the room was clear, he began going over everything that had happened in the last few days. Potter was obviously under new management. Dumbledore had not wanted to increase the fighting, willing to take the long view and satisfied to hold the ground his people had won while he tried to find the least damaging way out of the war.

Whoever was guiding Potter now was not made of the same material. Potter's group was actively recruiting and more than willing to fight. That in itself was not good. Voldemort only had a limited number of followers that he could risk, as most of the ones that had not been fingered as Death Eaters were in important positions in the Ministry and other places, and replacing the influence they had now would be difficult if not impossible. He could get better use out of them where they were than as fighters.

Voldemort spent a few minutes speculating on who was guiding Potter. It only took him a few minutes of review to figure out that Potter was running his own life now. That was both good and bad. Potter was basically an unknown leader. Dumbledore had been too well known and too set in his ways to change, but Potter was young and most of what Voldemort knew about him came from highly biased sources like Snape and Draco Malfoy. On the other hand, he would not have any practical experience and he would have the impatience of youth working against him.

What little he had learned about Potter from their link had mostly been his fears and nightmares. Those could be used, but they did not give Voldemort a full picture of Potter. He needed more information and for this subject, he only had one source to go to.

Voldemort left his sanctuary and Apparated to a rarely visited home. He walked inside and sneered at the adults there. Due to the spell Voldemort had taught the young man living here, they couldn't even see Voldemort. "You are about to prove your value to me."

The student bowed. "Of course, my Lord. What do you desire from me?"

"Right now, you will tell me everything you remember about Potter from first year on. Later, I may have a task for you after you return to Hogwarts."

Just before dawn, Voldemort left and the young man went to his room. He sat in his chair and thought. The Dark Lord had something important going on and he would be a part of it. After the Dark Lord won, he would finally be out of the shadow of his more famous peers.

He daydreamed for a few minutes and then sighed. He still had to finish the Tranfiguration essay for the summer. His Head of House would not be happy if her essay was his only unfinished homework.

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Ginny and Miranda, The Fifth Level, 2150, 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry looked at Miranda and started to search her for the Portkey that they had used to get here.

"That will not be necessary, Mr. Potter."

Harry straightened up and whirled at the unexpected voice. He was raising his wand when the uniforms on the three people that had appeared in the room registered on his mind and he stopped. All three of them were wearing the same leather armour that Miranda wore when she was working.

Two of them were men, one tall and broad shouldered, with an easy grace and a sword strapped diagonally across his back. He was standing a bit in front of a shorter man and a petite woman.

All three of them had the sense of implacable determination that Miranda had, but it was the woman that Harry's eyes stopped on. She was small, barely to his chin, but power flowed from her. She reminded Harry of Professor Dumbledore. Both of them radiated power and authority, and Harry knew that this woman was in charge here.

His thought was borne out as she started giving orders with the easy assurance of someone who's words had been listened to for a very long time. "Charles, take Miranda to the Infirmary. Take Miss Weasley with you. Make sure that Xantha knows that Miranda is working and gets her on her feet before we have to assign someone else to her job."

The taller man nodded and levitated Miranda carefully. "If you would follow me, Miss Weasley."

Ginny looked at Harry, who nodded. Ginny followed Charles out a door and Harry turned his attention back to the woman. "Michael, make sure the room sensors captured every bit of the battle and started breaking it down for the trainees. This was something special in a duel and I want it ready for teaching as soon as possible."

The shorter man nodded and crossed to a wall. Tapping it with his wand, he opened a concealed door and took out a small crystal that had been in the niche revealed behind the panel.

"Mr. Potter, if you would come with me, I would like to talk to you." Harry looked at the woman. She was looking at him with the same bland face Miranda had when she was hiding her emotions.

She started toward a door, and Harry followed her. "Mr. Potter, I will ask you not to talk about anything you see here. We have a good many rules and even more restrictions. You should not be here, but this duel was far too important not to record."

Harry followed her down a corridor and into a door before responding. "Since all I have seen is a couple of hallways, one large room and this office, I hardly think anything I could say would damage you."

Harry had looked at the office when he came in, and it was almost normal, compared to some offices he'd seen in the wizard world. It had a desk and four chairs in front of the desk, with a cabinet and a small table against one wall.

"My name is Lucinda and I currently train the Defenders. By the rules laid on us by the International Conference of Wizards, you should not see even that much of this facility. I am making an exception for you because Miranda speaks very highly of you and because that duel was something I wanted to see." She sighed, a wistful smile on her face. "I would have loved to have been the one that fought in it."

Harry blinked, remembering the power and violence of the bloody fight he'd witnessed. "You can have it," he said dryly.

Lucinda shrugged as she sat back and observed Harry thoughtfully. "You have asked Miranda about the Defenders, Mr. Potter, and you may have noticed that she has avoided talking about them. That is not an insult, merely something that the International Conference of Wizards requires. I will tell you as much as we are allowed to say."

Harry sat back. "Since I'm a captive audience until Ginny and Miranda come back, go ahead."

"The Order of Defenders was started in 1192. The original purpose of the Order was to supply neutral bodyguards to Wizards and Witches who happened to be Royalty. As the world changed, and fewer magical folk were born to the royal lines, they became bodyguards for anybody that could afford one." Lucinda paused as a tray floated into the office and she served Harry tea.

"That stopped in 1567, when a Dark Lord rose and used three Defenders as fighters in his attempt to rule. After he was stopped, the International Conference of Wizards was going to disband the Order, but after two years of debate, it was decided that the Order would remain, albeit under a few restrictions." She took a sip of her tea.

"A Defender may not start a fight except in the direct defense of their charge. They may not offer any opinion or make any statements about political situations that do not directly affect their charge. No more than one Defender may be hired by any one Wizard or group of Wizards. No Defender may train anyone in the methods or skills of a Defender and lastly, they may not speak of the training they have received."

Harry looked up at that part. Miranda had set up a schedule with Hermione and Mad-Eye to train Harry for three hours a week. It sounded as if she was breaking her own rules, not that Harry was going to say anything about that to this woman. He was aware of her staring at him with a small smile. "I know Miranda has made certain arrangements with you, Mr. Potter, and I trust you will keep those dealings secret. We have discussed the situation you are in, and it has been decided that you are in need of more help than we should give."

She sighed heavily. "We don't know everything, but the situation between yourself and the so-called Lord Voldemort is fairly plain. For some reason, he has failed to kill you on several occasions, making you unique in that regard. We are unable to find anyone else that he has set out to kill and then failed to do so." She regarded him curiously. "His Death Eaters have failed on occasion, but Voldemort himself has only failed to kill one person that he was after and that person is you."

Harry shrugged. "My mother's protections were very helpful in that regard," he said noncommittally.

"I am sure they were, but they are not the only reason he has failed. My researcher believes that something more than a curse scar binds the two of you." She raised her hands at the look hi pinned her with. "I'm not asking, although the fight you had in the Hall of Mysteries leads to certain conclusions being drawn."

Harry sighed. "I swear, that is the most open secret in the world. Yes, there is a prophecy, although you will understand if I don't tell you any specifics. I don't know you that well."

Lucinda smiled. "If you want to keep secrets, Mr. Potter, go to the Muggle world. Wizards are almost impossible to hide things from, given the number and range of spells you can use to ferret out information."

She studied him again. "We are assuming that you and Lord Voldemort will meet again, and we would prefer that you win that fight, as the common thought is that Voldemort would be bad for business, even if in fact he didn't try to directly interfere in our organization." She paused again as Michael came in and laid a handful of crystals on her desk.

He looked at Harry for a second, and then at Lucinda. She nodded slightly, wiggling her fingers at him. He made a short sign with his hands and spoke for the first time. "All the crystals recorded the fight and I am about to begin the analysis of the spells used and the overall fight."

"Thank you, Michael. Let me know when you're finished. I am very eager to see exactly what happened."

Michael nodded and left with one more look at Harry. Lucinda studied Harry again. "Miranda has offered you high praise, Mr. Potter, and yet I do not see why. On sight, you're a slight young Wizard. Your aura shows you to be slightly more powerful than normal, but not to any degree that would stand out."

Harry shrugged. Before he could say anything, she continued. "However, you have beaten a Basilisk, survived a Killing Curse, won the Tri-Wizard Tournament and survived at least two duels with a very powerful Dark Lord. That says a lot more than what is apparent on the surface."

Harry shrugged again, not sure what to say. Lucinda was about to say something else when Charles entered the office. "Miranda is resting comfortably, and will be up tomorrow. Do we need to assign a Defender to her position tonight?"

Harry frowned, not liking the idea of an unknown person in his room or knowing more than everyone seemed to know about his business already. Lucinda caught the frown and shook her head. "I don't think so. If this was a normal hire, I would assign someone, but Miranda made a private deal."

Charles grinned. "And made out very well in it."

Harry blinked in puzzlement as the two Defenders smiled. Lucinda grinned at him. "Mr. Potter, I understand you don't know a lot about Wizard money, but you should know that the average wage in the Wizard world is just thirty Galleons a week. A family of three can live quite well on that. You are giving Miranda thirty-five Galleons a week, plus room and board, and the protection of an old Family and a name in another Family. People have given tens of thousands of Galleons for less. Miranda might well be the highest paid Defender in the history of the Order, once you count up all her benefits."

Charles shook his head. "Not might be, Lucinda, she is the highest paid. In 1734, Drake Meyers paid sixty thousand Galleons to join the Hooch family, and they are nearly three hundred years younger than the Potters and far below the Blacks in social standing. Miranda's benefits are probably worth close to one hundred thousand Galleons."

Harry blinked, staring at the man. "How much do you know about the Potters?" he asked, curious as to why he did know so much.

Charles frowned at him. "Surely you've read the Potter Histories by now?"

Harry sighed. "No, actually, I haven't," he said, ignoring the startled looks the two of them gave him. "I just found out about them a few days ago and Mr. Sharpstar hasn't gotten back to me about them yet."

Charles nodded slowly. "I study the old families, Mr. Potter, so I know a bit, but the true story will be in the Potter Histories, which only a Potter may read. I can say that the Potter name was first recorded in 550, and has been a name ever since. It has never been a large family, but it has always been a light side name until now. With your additions, people are going to wait to see what happens now." He looked at Harry. "I think you'll face a great many challenges to your ideas and methods, especially among the old families, who are a bit more conservative than most."

Harry shrugged. "I have certain plans and ideas that I will do, and some of my friends have changes they want to make. I think that before we're done that we might just offend everyone in the Wizard world."

Lucinda smiled. "After Miranda's contract runs out, if you wish to hire another Defender, please let us know. We can figure out something."

Harry sighed, his eyes far away. "By the time her contract runs out, I hope I don't need to worry about things like that anymore."

"If you'll trust us with Miranda tonight, Mr. Potter, I'll have Charles escort you home. If Miranda is not ready to work by ten, someone will be along to take her place, but if Xantha says she'll be ready, she will be."

Harry nodded. "You haven't killed her yet, despite what she implies about the training, but I would like to see her before I go. I imagine Hermione will be interested in her condition."

Lucinda nodded. "Of course. Charles will take you to the Infirmary." She stood up and held out her hand. "It was good to meet you, Mr. Potter. I have the feeling that I will be hearing a lot more of you in the years to come."

Harry shook her hand and looked at her seriously. "Personally, I hope the last thing you hear about me is that I defeated Moldywarts. After that, I'd like a nice quiet life, raising children and watching my ladies do whatever they want to do."

Harry followed Charles out. After the door closed behind them, a Wizard came out of a concealed room behind Lucinda. "What do you think, Micah?"

"I think Mr. Potter needs to learn Occlumency badly. Someone has ruined his natural shields, and he is nearly broadcasting to anyone with a decent grasp of Legilimency." Micah sat down in the chair Harry had just vacated, looking thoughtful. "He doesn't think much of himself, counting his survival as luck and his friends. He was abused in many ways growing up and there is a core of steel under that mild exterior. If you really want to make him angry, though, attack his friends. Mr. Potter doesn't even realize how deep his loyalty to them runs. He's also looking into something called an Aestuomagius, or something like that. Mr. Parkinson started that line after he and Harry and him met to make an alliance to defeat Voldemort."

Lucinda blinked at the flood of information. "You got all of that in just a few minutes? His shielding must be gone entirely."

Micah frowned. "Not entirely," he corrected. "Some things have so much emotional baggage attached to them that it acts as a shield. The person that tried to teach him to protect his mind is one of those, and Bellatrix was another. I could only get around the edges of anything to do with Voldemort, and that only because Voldemort is in everything he does."

Lucinda frowned as she thought about what Micah had said and what she had felt as she talked to Harry. "Miranda says that had we prepared him, and caught him early enough, he would have been a great Defender."

Micah shook his head. "He has the strength and the will, but he would never sit back and be content with protecting one person. Mr. Potter would go looking for trouble if it came anywhere near him. If it touched anyone he considered a friend, he'd go after them. Mr. Potter believes in a good offense."

Lucinda sighed. "Pity. I was hoping to keep an eye on his children, but if he passes that attitude down to them, they wouldn't work out well either."

Micah smirked. "You might want to put a watch order on them anyway. Mr. Potter is seriously considering relationships with three different women, and they seem to know about it. At least, I get that impression from the emotional aura around the women closest to him in his mind, and from his memories of waking up with three women at once."

Lucinda blinked. "Really? You'd never know it to look at him."

Micah looked at her. "What does he look like? I've seen his mind, not his body."

Lucinda opened the shields around her mind and let Micah see Harry in her memories. While he was in her mind, Micah passed the things he'd learned from reading Harry's mind to her. When he was done, he watched as she thought about it all. "We'll put a watch on Mr. Potter and his ladies. Few bloodlines have the potential that his does. We can always use more Defenders."

"Speaking of that, we've located a potential Defender at Hogwarts. He'll be starting this year."

With that, the two leader of the Order of Defenders changed the subject from Harry to everyday business.

_**OoOoOoO Rudolphus Lestrange, The Nanny's Home childcare center, 2200, 08JUL97 OoOoOoO **_

Rudolph savored the screams and cries rising about him as the Death Eaters killed the children. There had been three attendants here tonight and thirteen children, mostly under ten. He looked at the ceiling where the last living adult hung, suspended by his spell. She was beyond screaming now, sinking into shock as she beheld the carnage below her.

The other two attendants had died quickly, both of them hit with Killing Curses as the Death Eaters entered. The youngest children, the ones in cribs, had gone just as quickly, falling to cutting curses and bludgeoning hexes.

Only three children were left now, and the Death Eaters were taking a few minutes to terrorize them. One of the Death Eaters, a new man named Harold Bole, was making an infant with its head missing walk around the children. Two more of them were levitating two bodies, smashing them together in mid air and laughing as the blood flew from them to rain down on the living.

Rudolphus looked at the woman again and then shrugged. From the look in her eyes, she wasn't even home anymore. "Move over," he told the Death Eaters and looked at the children that still lived. They were quiet now, shocked into silence and from the looks on their faces, they were not much better off than the woman. He brought the woman down from the ceiling and stood her in the middle of the room, holding her there with a full body bind and a conjured stick.

Rudolphus tied the three living children to her body and piled the rest around them as the other Death Eaters left the building. He stopped in the door and snickered. He cast four Incendios and watched as the fires began moving toward the bodies in the center of the room.

One of the children could still manage a scream, and Rudolphus smiled as he sent the Dark Mark up.

This would show Potter that he couldn't protect everyone. He rejoined his group and they watched the fire until the first flames licked through the windows. All four of the living were screaming now. On his command, they Disapparated.

Behind them, the screams cut off as the roof fell in.

_**OoOoOoO Harry and Peter, Harry's room, 2240, 08JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry looked at Peter. As Harry had asked, Dobby had reminded him about Peter when he got back, and Harry had talked to Shacklebolt. Armed with his information, Harry had Dobby bring the cage out and let Peter out so he could transform. Harry was torn between vengeance and humanity. Part of him wanted to kill Peter for all the things he'd done and another part found the thoughts he was having disturbing.

"I have a problem," Harry said quietly. "You gave us a lot of information today, and we are going to use some of it. I can't release you because you would return to Moldywart, thereby negating most of the information you gave us. If I kill you, I take another step closer to being like him and I don't want that. That only leaves giving you to the Ministry. If you're lucky, they'll only send you to Azkaban. If not, they'll have you Kissed, which is not a fate I would wish on anyone, even Moldywart."

He looked at Peter again. "What should I do with you?"

"Obliviate me. That way, I can't give up the information I gave you, but my death is not on your head."

Harry frowned as he thought about that. "Voldemort will try to recall those memories."

Peter nodded. "I know. I also know what happens to people when you do that. I was there when the Dark Lord tore the information out of Bertha Jenkins about the Tri-Wizard Tournament. I think I am useful enough to him that he won't do that to me."

Harry frowned. "That would give Voldemort another follower, which is just as bad in my eyes. I had thought about locking you in your rat form and letting you go."

Peter stared at Harry in horror. "Please, not that." Peter was shivering now. He'd been a rat for years, but even then he could sneak away sometimes and become a man if he was careful. The idea of never being able to change again filled him with terror.

Harry had already decided on the only thing he could think of that satisfied all of his requirements. He didn't want to kill Wormtail in cold blood, he couldn't allow him to return to Voldemort's service as he was and after hearing Sirius talk about Azkaban, Harry didn't want to send anyone there.

"This is what we're going to do, if you want to go free. You will swear an oath on your magic that you will not harm anyone in any way, ever. If you do that, I will let you go. If not, I will have no choice but to give you to the Ministry."

Peter thought about it. "I can still serve Him, I just can't hurt anyone?"

Harry nodded. "I know this may not be the best course, but it's the best I can do and still look in the mirror."

Peter sighed. "I'll need my wand."

Harry looked at Moody. "If he does anything but make the oath, he's yours." Moody smiled and pulled his wand while Harry asked Dobby for Pettigrew's wand. Dobby brought it and Peter took it carefully, fully aware of Moody watching him like a hawk.

"I swear on my magic that I will never hurt anyone again in any way." Harry watched as a glow spread over Pettigrew from his wand that slowly faded into his skin.

Harry made Wormtail transform again and Dobby took him away so that Pettigrew didn't have to use the Floo.

Harry offered a silent prayer that he hadn't done the wrong thing by setting the rat free. Hopefully Voldemort would be so angry at Wormtail that the rat wouldn't survive telling him that he'd given away all that information.

_**OoOoOoO Various People, Harry's room, 0700, 09July97. OoOoOoO**_

"Harry, wake up."

Harry yawned and rolled over. He'd gotten back around eleven last night and telling the people that had been there waiting what had happened had kept him up until nearly three. He didn't know what time it was, but he just knew it was too early. "Harry, please wake up."

That got his attention. Hermione sounded worried and horrified all at once and the sleep fell away from Harry. He sat up, automatically reaching for his glasses. "What's wrong, Hermione?"

Hermione was crying silently, Harry saw, and a chill passed through him. "What is it? Did someone get hurt?"

Hermione sniffed and rubbed her eyes. "The Death Eaters attacked again last night."

Harry closed his eyes, expecting to hear about another Muggleborn attack. "Was it anyone we knew?" he asked softly.

Hermione gave a choked sob. "No." She looked at Harry and he felt the chill again at the despair and horror in her eyes. "They attacked a nursery."

Harry stared at her for a minute, his mind not able to process what she'd said at first.

When he did understand, Hermione yelped and ducked as every bit of glass in Harry bedroom exploded. Harry's magic was swelling, filling the room and out in the main room they heard more shouts and screams as glasses on the table and the mirror and every other fragile object started quivering. Some of them broke and Ginny and Pansy rushed into Harry's room.

"Harry!" Ginny was the first to land on the bed and hug Harry, with Hermione and Pansy just an instant behind her. The magic flowing from Harry was nearly a physical thing as the three girls tried to calm him.

Harry didn't even notice them until he tried to stand up and couldn't. He looked at the girls holding him and he could feel their fear. He took a deep shuddering breath and tried to control his magic.

It took him a minute, but the magic finally receded. It was still there, still exploring everything around him with small fingers, but it wasn't nearly as scary anymore.

In the back of her head, Hermione was cataloging the differences in Harry's magic. It still felt safe and warm to her, but behind that soft touch was a fire, burning higher than she'd ever felt it and looking for an outlet.

Harry looked at the girls around him and then up at the other people around the room. When the flare of Harry's magic had been felt, most of the people in the other room had come rushing in.

Remus was standing next to Tonks and one entire side of his bedroom was filled with Weasleys. Bill, Fleur, Fred, George and Ron were clustered near the bathroom near a face Harry had not seen in a while. He nodded at Charlie. "I thought you had to go back to Romania," he said quietly.

Charlie nodded. "I did, and two days later, I was asked to come back to England. The Gringotts goblins specifically requested me for a Dragon Handler position, at twice my old pay rate, I might add. Would you know anything about that, Harry?"

Harry shook his head. "This is the first I've heard of it. Maybe Bill knows something."

Bill shook his head. "I was just as surprised to hear about it. I seem to be out of the loop on a lot of things. What just happened, and why did my glass explode?" He frowned. "And what kind of a spell are you using, Harry? I don't recognize it, and I thought I knew most of them."

Hermione looked up, absently shushing Harry. "You can see what Harry is doing? What does it look like?"

Bill shrugged. "A lot of the old curses have visible traces and Curse Breakers are taught a spell to see those traces, then trained in telling the various types of magic apart."

Hermione let go of Harry and advanced on Bill. "Tell me what you can see." Hermione had a very familiar look on her face and Ron and Harry looked at each other before they grinned at Bill.

"You're in for it now, Bill," Harry said.

"Just teach her the spell," Ron advised him. "It will save you a lot of time and talk in the long run."

Bill was watching Hermione, who had pulled a parchment and a quill from her robes and was scribbling something on it. She looked at him. "I do want that spell, but right now, I want your impression of Harry's magic and what you see. Unbiased second party reports are important in the study of unusual phenomena, and Harry's Aestuomagius abilities are that."

Bill looked blank. "His what?"

Fleur snapped her fingers. "That explains something I have been wondering about. Veela magic is emotionally driven, and Harry has reacted like a Veela, but I didn't know how to ask him if he had a Veela in his family. Being an Emotion Mage would account for it."

Harry looked at her. "You could have just asked, but as far as I know, I am not a Veela."

Fleur rolled her eyes. "I know you're not a Veela, Harry, I would be able to feel it if you were, but you might have had a Veela in the family tree somewhere."

Hermione had ignored the asides going on to interrogate Bill. "Harry looks normal, but there are tendrils of magic extending from him, like the arms of an octopus. They just kind of wave around, unless they touch someone." Bill frowned. "They do something to that person for a second, and then they leave them and continue to move around, but they're leaving a this thread of magic attached to the person they touched." He hesitated. "I can't explain it any better than that."

Hermione was scribbling furiously. "Hold on." She cast a muttered spell and Harry's room lit up with the spiderwebs of spells, much as the meeting room in the Hogsmeade Inn had. There were far more webs here though, and they were far more intricate. Hermione looked surprised for a second. "Darn," she said mildly. "I was hoping that Harry's magic would show up, but nothing here matches your description. I didn't know there were this many spells here though."

Bill was looking at the spells glowing on the walls. "That's an anti-Apparation Ward, keyed to a few people, and that's a Wizard warning Ward, keyed to a lot of people, but what is that?"

Hermione was looking at the wards as well. "How can you tell how many people are keyed to the wards?"

"Gobbly-gook gogg, whatamalcallit aradlithr magic." To everyone but Hermione and Fleur, that's what Bill's sentence sounded like, pure gibberish. Hermione nodded and responded with even more Gobbly-gook.

Harry sighed and got up. "I think we've lost them for a few hours. I'm going to have breakfast."

He tossed a robe on and headed out of the room, stepping around Hermione, who was still babbling at Bill in incomprehensible English.

In the other room, Amanda Wilkes and Shacklebolt were talking to Moody. They broke off their conversation to look at Harry. "I see you've heard the news," Moody said quietly.

Harry nodded shortly and then looked at Moody again. He sat down and Dobby had a plate in front of him almost before he was seated. Harry continued to look at Moody for a minute and then he looked at the other two Aurors. "You two might want to be somewhere else today."

They looked at Harry and then at Moody. "Just what have you got going on in that Slytherin mind of yours, Harry?" Amanda asked him suspiciously.

"If you don't ask, you can honestly say you didn't know if anyone asks you." Harry gave nothing away.

Pansy was frowning and Ginny was quiet. Ginny was almost certain that Harry was going to respond to last night's attack somehow, and she was a bit worried about him asking the Aurors to leave. That implied that what ever he was planning might not be entirely legal.

Shacklebolt sighed as he thought. "I am assigned to watch over you, Harry. I can't do that if I'm somewhere else."

Harry shrugged. "I offered you a chance," he said and turned to Moody. "Can you find a Death Eater's home?"

Moody looked at him. "I know where a couple of them are, provided they aren't under a Fidelius. Why?"

Harry grinned tightly. "I want to send a message to Voldemort, one he can't mistake."

Most of the group was sitting at the table and they looked at Harry in shock. Ginny frowned and spoke softly. "Is that really a good idea, Harry?"

Harry looked at her for a very long time and then began to speak. "I don't know, but I do know that allowing any bully to get away with hurting people merely encourages him to do it again. Voldemort's group is nothing but bullies with magic, and most of them are cowards, hiding behind Voldemort's reputation and their masks. If we can show them that every act of violence they do with be met with retribution, some of them may change their minds about what they are doing." Harry looked at Pansy. "Like Blaise's father, who followed Voldemort only because he thought Voldemort was going to win." He looked at everyone. "We have to do something to curtail the violence and if anyone here can think of a better way than destroying something they hold dear, please, speak up."

Moody looked at Harry. "Destroying?" he quoted while a smile grew on his face.

Harry nodded. "Destroyed," he confirmed. "I don't want them to be able to do anything with the remains of the house but banish them and start over. If anything is intact at the end, I'll be disappointed."

Moody smirked. "I know just the Wizard for that job. He's been dying to try out a few toys."

Harry shrugged. "I don't care how it gets done, but don't kill anyone that isn't attacking you. Anyone who does attack you, you may deal with anyway you see fit. All others are to be removed from the house and left unhurt."

Moody frowned, but nodded. He got up and started toward the fireplace. "Harry," he said, turning back, "how many places do you want taken care of?"

Harry looked up at him. "If you can find and do it without getting caught, one house for every person they killed last night, and one more for the Burrow. In the future, if this tactic works, we'll destroy one for every attack and another for every person they kill."

Moody nodded and Flooed away. Harry looked at the silent group. Just then Winky removed Moody's plate and Harry frowned at her. "Dobby," he called.

"Yes, Harry Potter Sir?" asked Dobby, who had appeared without a sound.

"Dobby, you know what Moody is going to be doing, don't you?"

"Yes, Harry Potter Sir. I heard the conversation." Ron was staring at Dobby in disbelief. The ragged and cringing house elf that had been Dobby was changed dramatically. Dobby stood straight and his clothes were neat and pressed. If it was not for the fanatic gleam in his eyes when he looked at Harry, Ron would have never recognized the house elf that had served Gryffindor Tower.

"Go with him, Dobby, and warn the house elves what is going on. Try to save them, but do not get hurt doing it. Don't let them interfere, but don't get hurt. If they want to come here, we'll find work for them or somebody to bond to if they insist."

Dobby frowned. "They cannot leave their family, Harry Potter Sir, not even if the family treats them bad. They have to be freed."

Harry smirked. "I know that, Dobby, but after the house is destroyed, a smart house elf might find a way to be freed while the Death Eaters are angry about the loss of their things."

Dobby stared at Harry for a few seconds and then bounced a couple of times, showing that the changes in him were not yet total. "Dobby understands," he said excitedly, "Masters will be angry and smart elves can show up at just the wrong time and say things to increase that anger. Dobby will tell them." Dobby disappeared without a sound.

"Harry, if Hermione ever finds out that you had a free elf and let it bond again, she'll hex you in ways you've never dreamed of," Ron said with a grin.

"Is it truly slavery, if both sides want it to be that way?" asked Luna, before Harry could say anything. "It seems to me that in a normal bonding, both sides get something out of it. Look at Dobby and Harry."

Harry frowned at Luna, casting a glance back at the bedroom where Hermione and Bill were still talking, a low murmur that could just be heard. "Dobby is a free elf," Harry reminded Luna.

Luna shook her head. "He has the same magic about him that Winky does, and that the Hogwarts house elves have. He is bonded to you, Harry." Luna took a sip of her juice. "I think the bonding is something he cannot control, and when he chose to serve you, that started the bond."

Harry frowned. "How come he didn't bond to Hogwarts?"

Luna smiled. "Harry, Dobby never served Hogwarts, he served you. How did you think he happened to end up in Gryffindor Tower?"

"I am so glad to hear that." Everyone turned and stared at Hermione. Hearing Hermione say she was glad a house elf was bonded was like hearing Ron say he wasn't hungry, or Harry saying he wanted to study with Snape. She looked at them. "I'm not happy that he's bonded," she clarified, "but I am happy that the anomaly in my data is cleared up. I've been studying the house elves and I had a theory about them and their magic, but Dobby was skewing my data. If he is bonded though, that makes my data correct." She looked at Luna. "We need to talk. How-."

"Hermione," Harry interrupted, before she could get started. "Save that for later. Right now, I have a couple of things I need people to do. You can talk to Luna later."

Hermione frowned at Harry but sat down, reading the parchment that she'd been writing on while talking to Bill. Harry smiled at her and brushed an errant lock of hair out of her face, a gesture she didn't even notice.

Harry looked up at the rest of the group. "Bill, how are the wards for the Burrow going?"

"The design is finished, but the builders won't be starting for a couple more days. I'm going to do some wards for another Gringotts customer today and tomorrow, and then I'll do half the wards in the foundations. After that, I have to wait until the new Burrow is completed to finish all the wards you want." Bill looked at Harry. "Just remember, until the senior living Weasley or their second allows it, nobody is coming through those wards alive. Visitors not keyed to the wards will end up just off the property, while a tone in the house will alert us that someone is waiting."

Harry nodded. "A little annoying when unexpected company shows up, but very good for unwelcome company."

Bill snorted. "Very good for that, and I would almost like to see someone try to break the wards. I've never been able to build wards like this, and I am curious to see what it will look like, from a safe distance anyway."

Harry sighed. "You may get your chance, if we don't end this thing quickly." He looked at the window as Hedwig hooted softly. "Someone want to let the owl in, please?"

The black owl flew to Hermione, who took the letter it carried. She looked at it and looked at Harry. "The Horcrux team is ready, and Mr. Parkinson has a few fighters for you when you get a chance to talk to him."

Harry frowned. "You'll have to wait to start looking for those things. I don't want you getting hurt. Wait for Miranda to return before you do anything except brief your team."

Hermione nodded. She looked at a much folded and battered parchment. "Harry, give me a few minutes and I'll have the list of appointments you have today, and a couple of things that you need to do that you don't have appointments for."

Harry sighed. "How many appointments do I have?"

"Just two. Mr. Sharpstar needs to see you about something, and the Comet Broomstick people have the photographer ready for your pictures." She looked at Ginny. "Make sure he doesn't wear all black today."

Fred and George looked at each other. "It's a shame, Gred."

"It is indeed, Forge. A crying shame."

The twins matched their words by pretending to sob on each other. Harry watched them. "Does anyone understand what the tacky tainted twin tailed toads are talking about?"

Fred and George looked at Harry sorrowfully. "You, poor boy," Fred said.

"You've fallen into the hands of organization and schedules. You're doomed to a humdrum life, following a list of Things To Do."

Ginny smirked at them. "And you two are so jealous." She looked at Hermione. "Would you tell them what items nineteen and twenty are for Harry?"

Hermione blushed and muttered something. She looked at all the faces watching her and winced. "Nineteen is quiet snogging time and twenty is sleeping with us time." She looked at Harry. "That was a nice alliteration, Harry." He grinned at her while Ginny continued twitting the twins.

Ginny smirked again. "How many ladies are scheduling time to snog you two?"

Fred and George looked at each other and then at their ladies. Katie and Angelina shook their heads. "Don't look at me," Katie said, "half the time I don't know what I'm going to be doing in ten minutes."

Angelina sighed. "I only wish I was organized enough to schedule anything."

Ron grabbed a piece of toast as he stood. "As much as I enjoy watching Ginny tormenting you two, I've got to be going. Harry, I'll see you tonight, mate." Ron stepped over to the Floo and left.

Amanda Wilkes sighed. "I've got to be going also. Another wonderful day of cataloging the things that have been confiscated over the last twenty years."

Harry frowned. "Why is an Auror of your skill doing that?"

Amanda flushed a bright red. "Someone might think that I was the one that sent Umbridge a Howler, suggesting that she might want to pull her head out of her fourth point of contact and stop sucking up to anyone with a title."

Shacklebolt snickered. "You shouldn't have used that term then. You're the only person in the Ministry that uses it. Not to mention, you should have sent it to her in her office, not in the middle of a meeting with the department heads."

Fred and George looked at Amanda with smiles. "Gred, what a brilliant idea."

"I agree, Forge. Now all we have to do is find out one little thing."

They looked at Amanda and spoke in unison. "What is a fourth point of contact?"

Amanda smirked. "It's a Muggle term I heard a Muggleborn Auror use once. I liked it, so I use it now."

Hermione sighed. "Honestly," she said with a smile, "a little thought should give the answer. Where do most people have to pull their heads out of?" Hermione looked completely innocent. "I'll even give you a hint. It's a body part that Muggle call the Gluteus Maximus when they're being facetious."

Fred and George blinked at her. They frowned for a second and then Fred lit up. "I know, it's her ---."

Katie clapped a hand over his mouth. "Yes, Fred, we get it. You don't need to be crude."

Harry was staring into space, thinking about something and Ginny put her hand over his. "Harry, what are you plotting now?"

Everyone turned their attention to Harry, who looked at Ginny. "I had forgotten about her, in the press of things to do. I think I may have found the price I want to charge the Minister for appearing to support his Ministry, or at least part of the price. Miss Wilkes, would you be kind enough to ask the Minister if he can see me tomorrow?"

She blinked. "Why me?"

Harry shrugged. "Two reasons. First, you're going to be in the Ministry today, so it will be easy for you to do. Second, it tells the Minister that you're a friend of mine."

Pansy smiled and kissed Harry on the cheek. "Which may cause him to look at her assignment and put her to doing something more in line with her skills. Very Slytherin of you, Harry."

Most of the Gryffindors winced. "Stop trying to steal the Gryffindor Golden Boy," said Katie.

Pansy smirked at them. "Harry did it," she defended herself, "don't make it my fault he's so good at being a Slytherin."

Harry frowned at everyone. "Actually, I would prefer to be a student, not a House. That artificial division of the school has to end. Working with Hermione, Ginny and Pansy these last couple of weeks has shown me just what Hogwarts could be, if the Houses would do something besides fight."

Pansy snorted. "I still want to know what the Sorting Hat was thinking when it put Hermione in Gryffindor. She's close to being the perfect Ravenclaw."

I've got a better question," Luna said quietly. "How did Ron end up in Gryffindor?"

The others looked at her in puzzlement. "Weasleys always go to Gryffindor," Fred said. "Even Percy got in Gryffindor."

Luna nodded. "Harry, I heard you talking once about the Mirror of Erised. What did Ron see in it?"

Harry frowned at the apparent change of subject. "He saw himself as Head Boy and Quidditch Captain, holding the House Cup after winning the Quidditch Cup."

Luna nodded. "Ron is a Pureblood, and in that first year, his main focus was to be better than any of his brothers, to make a name for himself as something except the youngest Weasley boy." She looked at her oatmeal and continued to shape it into some sort of animal. "That sounds like ambition to me."

Hermione blinked as she thought about it. "And the house for ambitious Purebloods is Slytherin."

Harry was thinking about that. Hogwarts was the first place he'd ever called home, and it was one of the most important places in the world to him. If something was disturbing it, he wanted to fix it. "Maybe we need to examine the recent Sortings closely. Let's see if there are a lot of people that are in odd houses. After all, the Sorting Hat is a thousand years old. Could the enchantments that make it work be wearing out or breaking down?"

"Or does it have something besides what's in your head to go by?" asked Hermione thoughtfully. "Neville didn't seem to be a Gryffindor that first year either, but look how he turned out. Can the Sorting Hat see some or all of your future?"

Harry shook his head. His list of problems was growing at an insane rate. "We'll have to table that discussion for another time. Right now," he paused as the Floo flared.

Miranda stepped out and looked around. She walked to the table and sat down in her usual seat next to Hermione. "Good morning, everyone," she said calmly. "Miss Black, I apologize for being late this morning. I had an interesting evening."

Harry and Ginny choked at that. 'Interesting evening' was not the way either of them would characterize dueling Bellatrix Black. Miranda also got a lot of stunned looks from the people that had only heard about the fight from Harry or Ginny. Hermione was becoming used to Miranda's odd sense of humour, though. "I suppose I won't fire you this time," she said, smiling at Miranda. "Don't make a habit of it though." She looked at Harry pointedly. "I already have one friend who spends entirely too much time in the Infirmary at Hogwarts."

Fred looked up. "Speaking of that, Hermione, do you want your normal day in the pool?"

Hermione nodded. "Of course."

Ginny looked at Fred. "I have my day, right?"

Fred nodded. "Of course. Would we forget our favorite sister?"

Ginny snorted. "If it made you a few more Galleons, yes."

Pansy looked at Harry. "Do you have the faintest idea what pool they're talking about?"

Harry shook his head. "I don't have a clue. Fred, would you mind telling me about this pool, since it seems to be an ongoing thing?"

George shrugged, flushing slightly. "It's been going on since your second year. The first pool is on the date you first end up in the Infirmary. After that it changes to how many times in the year you end up in there."

Fred nodded. "There's also on how many days total you spend in there, one for how many rules you break, and the number of public arguments Ron and Hermione have."

Harry just shook his head. "I should have known. How come I was never let in on the Ron and Hermione one? I see most of the fights, and I can give you the most accurate count."

Fred shook his head. "Because you, Mr. Potter, are entirely too smart. If we'd have told you about that one, you would have figured out that there were more and possibly what they were. Since we weren't sure how you would react, we kept you in the dark."

Pansy was thinking. "Is the twenty-third of September taken yet?"

Fred dug a scroll out of his robes. He scanned it and shook his head. "No, it's not. Do you want it?"

Pansy nodded. "Yes, and give me," she thought for a minute, "Six stays, totaling nine days on the rest of it. For the argument one, give me fifty-nine."

Fred and George blinked. "Only fifty-nine?" George asked. "Most of the numbers in that one are in the hundreds."

Pansy grinned. "Things will change this year," she predicted calmly.

Hermione frowned. "We never had a hundred public arguments," she said in annoyance.

Fred coughed. "Actually, Hermione, you and Ron are averaging two point three arguments a day right now. You can count the number of days in the year, so you figure out how many arguments that is."

Hermione thought for a second. When she was done, she blinked. "Are you sure about that?"

Fred nodded. "Of course, it's probably higher than that, as we only counted the ones somebody saw or heard besides you, Harry and Ron."

"Harry Potter Sir," Dobby said as he appeared next to Harry, "Mr. Moody is wanting the oldest Weasley boy and the Dragon Weasley."

Pansy was staring at Dobby in disbelief. "Harry, are you insane?"

Harry turned innocent eyes on her. "What?"

Pansy sighed. "Dobby, show everyone your shirt." Dobby grinned and floated off the floor, spreading the t-shirt he was wearing so everyone could read it. There was silence when they were done, as they stared at the shirt and Harry.

The shirt read:

_**H.E.A.V.E.**_

_**House Elves Against Voldemort's Evil**_

_**Proudly standing against the excesses of the Mudblood Dork Lard!**_

One the back of the shirt was a drawing of a house elf standing on a body. Every few seconds, the body would rise up and become Voldemort. The house elf would then jump up and down on the Dark Lord until he collapsed into a broken pile again.

Dobby smiled. "I like socks," he confided to the room, "but Harry Potter Sir is giving me nice shirts. Dobby has three now."

Hermione was glaring at Harry. "Harry James Potter! You're going to get him killed!"

Harry looked at her for a second and then looked at Dobby. "Dobby, what are you going to do if a Death Eater or Moldywart tries to do anything to you?"

Dobby made a strange gesture with his hands, similar to the one that had knocked Lucius Malfoy on his rear when Dobby was freed. "Harry Potter Sir has told Dobby to defend himself as he would Harry Potter Sir. Dobby may try to escape first, but he can defend himself."

Hermione blinked as she thought about that. With the things she had learned about the house elves from Winky and Dobby, Harry's belief that Dobby would be safe made sense. "I'm sorry, Harry. I jumped to a conclusion."

Harry brushed the back of his hand across her face gently. "You?" he teased her. "Jump to a conclusion? Never."

Almost everyone smiled at that. Pansy was still frowning, and Harry just knew he would hear more about this.

The rest of the breakfast meal was quiet as people began leaving. Ginny went to the Shades of Grey office to continue working on the charity fund list and the twins took their girlfriends to Weasley Wizard Wheezes to start their work day. Bill and Charlie left to go find out what Moody wanted. Hermione left with Miranda to go meet the researchers that would be looking for Horcruxes and ways to destroy them. Fleur was going to the Longbottom estate to spend the day with Molly as they began to order new furniture and things for the Burrow. Luna and Neville were going hunting for some things Luna wanted for her potions.

Finally, only Shacklebolt, Tonks and Remus were left. The three of them were discussing the map Hermione wanted to make to track Apparations. Shacklebolt looked at Harry. "We're going to need some help. If we don't give anything away, I want to get a friend of mine to help us. He's an Unspeakable named Croaker."

Harry winced. "Do you trust him?"

Shacklebolt hesitated. "I do," he said slowly, "and I don't. He won't tell anyone what we're doing, but he may use the idea to make something similar for himself or the Unspeakables."

Harry thought about that. "If you think you really need him, use him." Harry grinned. "Just don't let him know you're working on a way to mask all of our people from the map, or anything like it."

Shacklebolt nodded and the three of them left, leaving Harry and Pansy alone. Pansy looked at Harry. "Care to tell me about H.E.A.V.E., and what the other shirts Dobby has are?"

Harry smirked. "Dobby has an Azkaban Death Wanker shirt, the H.E.A.V.E. shirt and another one. I have been thinking about the first shirt, and I liked it enough to make a few more with Fred and George's help."

Pansy frowned. "How does sending Voldemort into rages help us?"

Harry sighed. "I want his attention on me this year. Between us and a couple of things Hermione found in Professor Dumbledore's books, we can give Hogwarts the strongest defenses in the world. The Horcrux hunters won't have that and neither will the families. I want them safe and alive when this is over, even if I'm not."

Pansy nodded. She could fully understand wanting to keep your family safe. She felt a pang at the thought of Harry not being safe and alive at the end of the war, but pushed it away to consider his reasoning. "You don't mind Dobby wearing those shirts because you think he's strong enough to escape if someone attacks him."

Harry nodded. "I do. I've talked to him a couple of times and as far as he knows, no Wizard can stop him from using the house elf type of movement. It's not Apparating and he's never had any problems going anywhere he wants to go, even inside Hogwarts."

Pansy sighed. "Just do me a favor and let me know before you do something like this again, please? I hate surprises."

Harry grinned and went into his room. He came back a minute later with another shirt. He tossed it at her. "There's only one of these. It's mine."

Pansy held up the black t-shirt and read it. The front of the shirt had a picture of Voldemort, as he currently looked. Above the picture was a single line:

"_**Have you seen this Dork Lard?"**_

On the back of the shirt was:

_Wanted: Moldywart, Dork Lard and half breed. Accused of stupidity, cowardice, impotence, ignorance and bad hygiene. If seen, please call 1-800-KILL TOM._

_Warning: The half blooded freak is not human and will not act in any rational way. He can be dangerous, unless you're a baby. He will steal the candy from babies though._

Pansy looked at Harry. "If Riddle ever gets his hands on you, Harry, he's going to make you as immortal as he is, just so he can torture you longer."

Harry shrugged. "As long as he doesn't kill me. I am the only one that can kill him, so the longer he tortures me, the longer I have to escape and do something about him."

Pansy blinked as she had a sudden realization. "That's what all this is really about, isn't it? You're trying to make sure he doesn't just cast a Killing Curse at you again."

Harry looked at her. "You will not repeat that in front of anyone else. They mustn't know."

_**OoOoOoO Hermione, Ginny and Pansy, Diagon Alley, 11JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

The three girls had gone out to escape the flood of papers Harry was currently dealing with in Mr. Sharpstar's office. They had helped Harry go through it, but the rest of Harry's time there was to be signing things and minor arcane rituals to seal those papers for Harry's coming of age, less than three weeks from now.

"So, Pansy," said Hermione, as blunt as always, "when are you going to tell us what's wrong?"

Pansy blinked and avoided the eyes of the other girls. "I don't know what you mean."

Ginny smirked. "Fine. Hermione and I will discuss it, since you don't know anything. Hermione, does it seem to you that Pansy has been different the last couple of days?"

Hermione nodded. "Yes, I noticed that. She's often staring at Harry, studying him, and she seems to enjoy the flirting a lot more." Hermione looked around and lowered her voice. "She's also been asking me to show Harry how to play that game we like so well."

Pansy's face was flaming by now but she stubbornly kept her mouth shut.

Ginny continued. "You know, she reminds me of someone, but I just can't think of who."

Hermione snickered. "She reminds me of a certain redhead I know, quite intimately."

Ginny made a face. "She most certainly doesn't act like Ron."

Hermione froze and then glared at Ginny. "Not that redhead, you git."

Ginny grinned and looked at Hermione with a shocked expression. "Just how many of-"

"Finish that sentence and you'll be sorry." Hermione was fingering her wand. She smirked. "The redhead I mean is the one with a cute little strawberry birthmark on her butt."

Ginny blushed. "That's enough about that, thank you." She looked around. "Fred and George have forgotten about it, and I want it to stay that way."

Pansy grinned at her. "You do have to admit, it's awfully cute though. I've never seen a butterfly birthmark before."

Ginny blushed a deeper red and glared at Pansy. "At least it's something I was born with. Where did you get a magical tattoo anyway?"

It was Pansy's turn to blush as Hermione giggled. "There's a place in Knockturn Alley. They do excellent work."

Ginny looked down the street, toward the entrance to Knockturn Alley. "How long does it take?"

"I don't think so. Not today." The three of them looked at Miranda. "I would prefer to take it easy for another day or two, until I am fully functional again. Miss Granger will not be tempting fate today."

Hermione sighed. "Fair enough. We can always do it later." She looked at Pansy. "I just want to know, why that tattoo? I would have thought you would get something more Wizard like."

Pansy blushed again and muttered something. She glanced at the other two out of the corner of her eye and sighed. "I just like bunnies, ok? They're soft and cuddly, and if you ever repeat that where anyone else can hear it, I'll hex you every day forever."

Ginny snorted. "Right. Like anyone would believe that Pansy Parkinson, Bitch Queen of Slytherin, does anything with bunnies but rip their heads off and drink the blood."

Hermione sighed. "Speaking of Pansy, this started with a request, Pansy. Are you going to tell us that you might like to stay with Harry after the war is over and you don't need him anymore?"

Pansy froze, closing her eyes. "He has you and Ginny. He doesn't need me."

Ginny rolled her eyes. "You're nearly as thick as Harry, aren't you? If you haven't noticed, Harry kisses you the same way he kisses us."

Pansy shrugged. "Harry enjoys kissing us, but that's just sex and hormones. It doesn't mean he likes me for anything more than that." Pansy frowned, looking away from the other two. "We made a deal, and I will keep that deal. I help him, he protects me and when Voldemort is dead, I go back to my family."

Hermione and Ginny looked at each other as Pansy quickened her step. "The nice thing about deals," Hermione said thoughtfully as they hurried after her, "is that they can always be changed with the approval of both parties."

Ginny tapped her on the shoulder. When Hermione looked at her, Ginny grinned. "I think this deal should include us. We are affected by what happens between them, aren't we?"

Hermione smiled. "So very true. Let me think about this for a few minutes." The two girls caught up with Pansy.

_**OoOoOoO The Diagon Alley Defense Group, 11JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

"Alright, quiet down, everyone. Fred and George are at the Inferno right now, so I'm running the meeting tonight." Lee Jordan looked out over the people that could make it to this meeting. Almost half of them were training with Fred and George tonight and the rest of them were going to train tomorrow night. "First, do we have any new business?"

"I've got something strange, but I don't know what it means." Harold Brooks was a storekeeper who sold magical trunks and baggage. "Narcissa Malfoy was in yesterday and bought four multiple compartment trunks. She paid cash, but had them delivered to an address that was not Malfoy Manor."

Lee frowned but wrote that down. "Any other Death Wanker activity in the Alley this week?"

The other shop keepers denied anything unusual. While some of the suspected Death Eaters and their families had been in the Alley, they only bought normal everyday things.

"I've got something, but it doesn't have anything to do with Death Eaters. Has the Ministry been around to any of you?" Sheila Grayson was a healer, specializing in family style ailments that didn't need St. Mungo's, but were a bit too serious for the average family to deal with. "They came by and asked me a few questions about any conspiracies in the Alley. I think they're looking for us after the battle."

Lee Jordan looked around. "Anyone else been approached yet?"

Several hands went up, all from people that had been in the Battle of Diagon Alley. "They weren't asking me about conspiracies, though," Diana Lightfoot said. "They were warning me that openly defying You-Know-Who could have serious results for my shop, and letting me know that the Ministry was going to be raising the shop tax again."

The others nodded. "I got the impression that if I wasn't involved in any more incidents and I didn't talk about the battle, my taxes wouldn't go up."

Lee frowned as he considered Jerry Hall's words. "I think it may be time to start gathering information on the Ministry and their actions in the Alley. Talk to a few people and spread the word about the tax increase. Let's see if it's a real hike, or a way of pressuring us."

"Any old business?"

"Just one thing," Sheila looked around. "Does anyone have a friend or relative that needs or wants a Potions Apprenticeship? Supplying the potions for the Inferno training is running through my stock faster than I can make them."

Jerry Hall winced. "If that's the way they trained Aurors back in the day, I am very glad my wife talked me out of becoming an Auror." He rubbed his shoulder. "Or is that just Mad-Eye's way?"

Lee grinned. "If you think Moody's bad, wait until your session with Harry. He's becoming downright scary."

_**OoOoOoO Voldemort and Harry, a meadow in northern Scotland, 12JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry looked around the meadow, using the magic in his glasses to locate his people and look for enemies. His magic was exploring the surroundings as well.

Harry was about to meet with Voldemort.

For the very first time, every one of Harry's advisors agreed on something. This was madness.

He had laid out his reasoning clearly and concisely, again and again, until his patience began wearing through the knee-jerk reaction about dealing with Voldemort.

It had taken three days, but finally, the details were set and the meeting was just minutes away now. Harry had brought Hermione and Ron of course, and Miranda was standing next to Hermione with that blank face that meant she was in full Defender mode.

Ginny had begged off this meeting. She wasn't afraid to see the dark lord, but she was worried that some lingering trace of him from her first year would allow him to reach into her mind and learn things that Harry didn't want him to know.

Moody had not even been told where the meeting was going to happen, as Harry didn't want the old Auror gathering the other Inferno trainers for a sudden surprise attack. Harry did have nearly twenty people around the meadow, all of whom had been required to swear an oath not to do anything without a signal from Harry.

The only person out here on Harry's side that could start a fight were Harry himself and Miranda, simply because she refused to swear any oath that might interfere with her protection of Hermione. Since the first thing she would do if something went wrong would be getting Hermione out of there, Harry didn't mind that a bit.

Harry stopped thinking about the security around the site as the crack of multiple Apparations sounded.

Voldemort was standing in the middle of the meadow. Next to him were the three Malfoys and two more Death Eaters, both with their masks on.

Voldemort looked at Harry and then looked around the meadow. "An interesting place for a meeting, Potter. Why would you want to meet way out here?"

Harry moved up to stand about ten meters from Voldemort. "I have several reasons, Voldemort. Since I am not going to spend the day chatting with you, shall we get to business? I have other things to do today."

Voldemort nodded. "You made me an offer, Potter. You would give me the full prophecy in exchange for all three Malfoys, alive. Are you still willing to make that deal?"

Harry nodded and reached back. Ron put the small bowl he'd been holding in Harry's hand. Harry held it up. "You recognize this, don't you?"

Voldemort nodded. "It's a Pensieve. I assume you'll place the memory of the Prophecy in it and allow me to examine it?"

Harry smirked. "Better. I have placed Albus Dumbledore's original memory of listening to the Prophecy being spoken in here."

Voldemort's eyes flared. "Why does that worry me? Why would you give up such a valuable memory?"

Harry shrugged. "Valuable to whom? I have watched it so many times that I can quote it word for word. It means nothing to me anymore, and any clues you might get about Professor Dumbledore wouldn't do you any good now, since he's dead."

Voldemort nodded. "And Snape already told me the first two lines and the prophet's name, so nothing else in there will do me any good what so ever."

Harry nodded. "Since I know the prophecy and I don't need this one, I would prefer to give it to you, so that you don't have one of my memories. We have too many connections already, for me to be comfortable giving you further insight into my mind or ways of thinking."

Voldemort watched Harry for a few minutes. "You are growing up, Potter. I wonder what kind of team we could be, if you had accepted my offer that first year."

Harry shrugged. "We'll never know, but somehow I think we would have come to blows anyway. You don't share very well, and I don't agree with some of your policies." Harry gave a half smile. "Not to mention, that even if I became like you, sooner or later, I would have started eyeing your throne, and you would have tried to eliminate me, just to protect yourself."

Voldemort studied Harry. "True. It would have been a glorious few years though. How do you want to work this trade?"

Harry looked at the Malfoys. "I have a few people that will take the three of them and watch them for an hour. They will also be running a few other tests on them. When Moody is convinced that these are in fact the real Malfoys, I will give you the Pensieve, and wait while you verify that you do have the Prophecy. At that point we will both leave."

Voldemort snorted. "Do you think I am a fool, Potter? As soon as you have the Malfoys in your hands, you'll all disappear."

Harry sighed. "Then we go to plan two, which is just a bit more annoying. The people will come here, and examine the Malfoys while we all stand around. I will have to place certain anti-Apparation and other spells on the Malfoys, so they don't have a chance to evade my hospitality. After the hour is up and we have the real Malfoys, I'll give you the Pensieve."

Voldemort considered that. "You're an honest person, Potter. I'll do that." He looked at the Malfoys. "Go, perform your last duty for me."

Lucius, Narcissa and Draco hesitated and then started toward Harry slowly. Lucius had the look of a man approaching the gallows. Draco was sneering, and Harry almost smiled. The ferret never changed. Narcissa was the same as every other time Harry had seen her, composed and icily calm. Harry had to admire her composure under stress.

As they passed the Trio, Draco glared at Harry and was about to say something. "Quiet." The softly hissed word came from Narcissa, and it held enough venom to close Draco's mouth.

Just behind Harry, four members of the Windenmere fighter's group appeared and they started examining the three Malfoys in silence.

Voldemort hissed as he watched. "I was very upset about you stealing my people, Potter. I see you're still using them to do your dirty work, just as I did. How do they feel, exchanging one master for another?"

Harry smiled. "They haven't. They are their own people, but everyone has to make a living and they work well, if you pay them enough." Harry shrugged. "Between the money I pay them and the favor they owe me for protecting them from you, they do good work."

Harry was deliberately underplaying the relationship between the Windenmere group and himself. If everything went wrong, maybe they could save themselves from Voldemort. If Voldemort thought they were important to Harry, they'd never be able to hide.

The next hour passed slowly, with Voldemort making comments about various subjects and trying to draw Harry out, trying to get him to give some bit of information. Harry parried the questions, answering some truthfully, some with lies, and others with a mixture of both.

Finally, one of the fighters approached Harry. "They are the Malfoys."

Harry nodded and looked at Voldemort. "You've kept your end of the bargain, now it's time for me to keep mine." Harry picked up the Pensieve and stepped toward Voldemort. He was aware of everyone tensing up, but he tried to relax as much as he could, considering the thing in front of him had made a hobby out of trying to kill Harry since before Harry had memories.

Voldemort felt the touch of Harry's magic, a fiery lash that barely touched him before it was gone again. He felt something touch at the edge of thought, but it was lost as Harry held out the bowl.

Voldemort took it and looked at the memory inside. He looked at the two Death Eaters with him. "Watch them. If any of them point a wand in this direction, kill them." The two Death Eaters didn't respond in words, they simply separated a bit and watched Harry's people.

Voldemort looked at Harry one more time and bent over the bowl. Harry turned to his people, ignoring the Death Eaters. "Take them away. Follow the plan and go, now."

The fighters grabbed the Malfoys and in less than a minute, they were gone. Soon, only Harry, Hermione and Ron remained. Harry looked at Ron. "I'm counting on you, Ron."

Ron nodded at looked at Hermione. "Sorry," he said, as he laid a hand on her arm and activated the hidden Portkey he was wearing. Harry winced. He was going to be in so much trouble when he saw her again. He looked at Miranda, who had known what was going to happen.

She prepared to Apparate to the rest of them, but paused to look at Harry. "You had better not disappoint me, Mr. Potter. I would hate to have to tell Pansy to start spreading all those rumours she's been making up." She disappeared before Harry could say anything. Harry turned and looked at the only three people left in the meadow.

Voldemort was still deep in the memory and the two Death Eaters were watching Harry closely. "Why shouldn't I just kill you right now?" asked one of them and Harry stiffened. He knew that voice.

Harry glared at the Death Eater. "Please do, you slimy scum-sucking scurrilous shithead. But before you do, you might want to ask your master to tell you the whole Prophecy. I'm sure he can break it down far enough that even your miniature mind will be able to grasp it."

Voldemort stood up just then and stood still for a few seconds. He turned to Harry. "You and I, Potter? That all it is? I could have told you that. You're the only person to ever trouble me since I started this war." He looked around and then back at Harry. "You're the only one left, Potter? Why shouldn't I kill you now?"

Harry looked at Voldemort. "First, you're wrong. I am not the last person on my side here and second, do you really want to start what might be our final fight right now, right here? I could have done something to the site or the meadow itself that could do more damage than you can dream of. You lived through the second World War, Voldemort. Muggles have improved their bombs a great deal since then."

Voldemort stared at him. "Another time then, Potter. I will be looking for you, in a place of my time and choosing."

Harry gave a small nod of his head that might have been a nod or just a nervous twitch. "Another time."

Harry disappeared without a sound.

Voldemort hissed. "He didn't stay for the last part of this meeting. We'll just have to send it to him." Voldemort gestured at the silent Death Eaters and its robes flew away.

Voldemort looked at Pettigrew and smirked. "Go, find Harry Potter. Kill him."

Pettigrew made not a sound as he began walking in the rough direction of London. With every step he took, his head snapped back and forth. It was plain that Wormtail's neck had been broken.

"Do you really think the Inferi will kill him, my Lord?"

"Of course not. It will remind Harry that I can do things he can't though, and hopefully, it will do enough damage to be noticed. I am going to make people afraid of the night. Take a dozen Death Eaters and find me a wizard. Every night, we're going to take a Wizard or Witch and turn them into an Inferi. Sooner or later, we'll either run out of people, or one of them will get lucky and kill Potter."

The two killers left, disappearing with the cracks of Apparation.

_**OoOoOoO Harry and others, The Inferno, 13JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry ducked the red beam coming in from his left, turning the duck into a roll and coming up out of it nearly two meters from where he dropped. "Reducto," he hissed, firing at the target before him. The target dodged and returned fire with a speed that Harry couldn't match. Harry gritted his teeth as his body slid around the corner and the Cruciatus Curse was broken. He staggered to his feet and started moving again, knowing that the targets in the maze never stopped moving.

He came around a corner and stopped the curse on his lips as he recognized the person standing there. "What are you doing in here?" he asked Fleur.

Fleur smiled. "I am the innocent you have to protect and help escape. Mr. Moody says it will be good for you."

Harry snarled. "I'll give him good for ," he said and spun as a cold chill went down his back. His Reducto hit a split second before the target's curse and it dropped, stopped for two minutes, when it would automatically be fixed and return to the hunt.

Harry looked at Fleur. "Can you run?" She nodded and Harry grinned ruthlessly. "Then I think I'm going to change the rules, since Moody wants to play games."

Harry reached inside himself, picturing Fleur under the Cruciatus. He put his wand away and stared at the wall for a second, raising that power he'd touched a time or two before. He threw his hands out in front of him as he yelled "Reducto!", putting every bit of his frustration and worry behind the words.

The cutting curse that erupted from his hands was nearly a foot across and it tore through the wall and then the walls behind it with ease, like a knife though butter. Harry shook his hands, which were smoking slightly, and gestured to Fleur. "After you."

Fleur blinked the bright spots out of her eyes and stepped through the new doorway Harry had made for her.

_**OoOoOoO Harry and the Malfoys, Nicholas Sharpstar's office, 13JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry stared at the Malfoys. "You are a convicted Death Eater," he told Lucius coldly. "I have no use for you, nor would it help you to try and convince me that you did everything you did under the Imperious. I can throw it off, and most of my people, after repeated practice, can at least resist it enough that the rest of us can tell when they're being affected by it. As far as I can tell, you are either an evil, lying bastard or a weak willed wimp with no redeeming qualities. In either case I don't need you. Keep your mouth shut until I finish talking to these two, and you might not be given to Moody for his amusement."

Lucius flicked a glance at Mad-Eye, who was standing against the wall and watching Harry and the Malfoys while fingering his wand. He remained quiet, though, as there wasn't anything else he could do. His wand had been taken when Voldemort had given him to Harry and he still didn't know where it was. His mission would have to wait until he got it back, or got his hands on another one.

Harry looked at Narcissa. "I have no personal quarrel with you. My people tell me that you do not have a Dark Mark and to the best of my knowledge, you have never done anything to me. Is there anything that might change my mind?"

Narcissa glared at him. "Besides that fact that you have taken my name from and I hate you for that? You have prevented me from getting the things that Mother said she would leave me, destroyed my family and are ruining the social standing of the Blacks. Other than that, no."

Harry nodded. "Then your part of this meeting is simple. My terms are not for debate. You either accept them, or I simply turn you out now, with only the clothes on your back." Harry pushed a parchment toward her. "You will sign this, and make an Unbreakable oath to support the Light and the Black family in their endeavors until your death, as directed by the head of the family. If you do those two things, I will reinstate you in the Black family and give you an annual income and Grimmauld Place to be your home."

Narcissa stared at him for a second and then picked up the parchment. She began to read as Harry turned to Draco. "You have been convicted of a dozen crimes and your punishment is set. You will be Kissed as soon as the Ministry finds you."

Draco paled, slumping in his chair as his fate was given. Lucius paled as well, but then his eyes narrowed and he looked at Harry. "You are plotting something, Potter. You can save my son."

Harry glanced at him. "I can."

Draco looked at him, hope crossing his face, followed by suspicion. "What's the cost, Potter? I know you're not going to save me out of the kindness of your heart."

Harry shook his head. "I have no kindness for you, Draco, not after the part you played in Professor Dumbledore's death. I do have three conditions that you will meet, or I will take you to the Aurors and watch as the Dementor Kisses you."

"What are your terms?"

Harry looked at Lucius. "The first term is yours to do. You will sign the Malfoy fortune, and all of its assets over to me right now. Everything Malfoy will become mine, to do with as I please. You will each be allowed to take three things away from the estate. Your wand, your clothing and one item of your choice, not of a dark nature."

Harry turned back to Draco. "The next two things are yours to do or not do. First, you will swear an Unbreakable Oath never to return to any British land, possession, ally or colony. Included in that oath will be a clause that you will never attack another being except in self defense or the defense of another. The second thing you will do is leave Britain forever. I have a small house in a Japanese magical town that will be yours, along with a small annual stipend. It will feed you and clothe you. If you want anything more than that, you'll have to work."

Harry looked at their stunned faces. "The choice is yours, but remember, if you leave this room without signing those sheets and swearing those oaths, you'll be given to the Aurors, and this time, Voldemort will not save you." He looked at the three of them. "In fact, Gawain Robards and three of his people will be here in ten minutes to have a talk with me. I believe that he's planning on taking both of you directly to Azkaban and having you Kissed so you don't escape again."

Narcissa looked up from the parchment and spoke. "I sign this, make your oath and I am free to be a Black, within your rules?"

Harry nodded slowly. "I will not even tell you who to be friends with or control your life at all, except to make sure you stay on the light side."

Narcissa nodded and signed the parchment. She took off her wedding ring and handed it to a stunned Lucius. "I am leaving you, Lucius. My Family Head has broken all ties with your family."

Lucius looked at Harry. "What will I do, if I agree to your terms?"

Harry looked at him. You have two choices, if you take my terms. You can go with Draco, or you can accept a house and a stipend somewhere else. If you go with Draco, I will set someone to watching you forever. If you take the other house, I will not waste the time to have you watched, as Draco cannot enter that land by the oath he will swear."

Lucius thought about his mission and sagged, beaten, or so he appeared. The only way he was going to getting his wand would be to agree to Potter's terms. Signing the fortune over didn't mean anything if Potter died. The fortune would revert back to the Malfoys unless Potter had a will already, and Lucius didn't think he did. "We'll take your terms, Potter."

Lucius looked up. "One day, I hope to hear the Dark Lord has killed you. When that day comes, I will have my revenge."

_**OoOoOoO Harry and DMLE Head Robards, 13JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

"So they are on their way to the places I have arrainged for them."

Gawain Robards frowned at Harry. "It sounds as if you were rather lenient with them. I still think they should have been Kissed."

Harry smirked. "Lenient to us, maybe, but I think Lucius and Draco will be regretting accepting my offer within the year."

Head Auror Robards looked at Harry and his smirk before looking at the three girls that were always with Harry these days. All of them looked like cats with full cream bowls. "What did you do to them?"

"Draco is moving to Japan, to an old Wizarding town. It just so happens that it's also a Pureblood community, still run by Samurai and the Code of Bushido."

Robards frowned for a second and ten grinned, a grin that turned into laughter. "Since Draco Malfoy is a foreigner and not Japanese, he'll be a Mudblood there, won't he?"

Harry frowned. "I don't like that term, but yes, Malfoy will have the same status as one for the rest of his life. The only job they would allow him to have will be as a manure handler."

Gawain Robards looked at Harry, still smiling. "And Lucius?"

Harry sighed, looking at something in the distance. "I got him a nice little house in America, in a Progressive Wizard community, one where advancement and social status is based purely on your merits and community work. They also raise sheep there."

Gawain Robards thought about that. "You sent Lucius to a farming village that admires hard work and friendliness?"

Harry and his friends smirked. Robards shook his head. "Mr. Potter, if I ever annoy you, just curse me, please. I don't think I like your ideas of justice."

Harry gestured at the girls. "Hermione, Ginny and Pansy worked out the details, I just paid for it." Harry grinned. "Actually, the Malfoys are paying for their own punishment. By the way, would you like to buy a Manor, after we clear the Dark things out of it?"

Gawain laughed and shook his head. "No thank you, Mr. Potter." He turned serious. "That was a very interesting story in the Quibbler and The Bludger. It's started a serious uproar in the Ministry though."

Harry shrugged. "I think, that over the next three or four days, more than the Ministry will be in an uproar over it."

_**OoOoOoO Interlude, The Bludger, 13JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

_**Harry Potter Speaks!!**_

_Yesterday, one of the most historic meetings since Merlin met with Arthur took place in a small meadow in Scotland. Harry Potter met with the man most commonly called Voldemort or the Dark Lord. His name is Tom Marvolo Riddle and that is how the Bludger will refer to him._

_In the course of their meeting, Harry Potter released a prophecy that was spoken to Albus Dumbledore and concerns Mr. Potter and Riddle._

_Harry Potter is the only person that can kill Riddle, just as Riddle is the only person that can kill Harry Potter. (See the full Prophecy on page 5.)_

_Mr. Potter gave the prophecy to Riddle to ransom one of the people that had been forced to follow Riddle. Narcissa Black-Malfoy married Lucius Malfoy and when he became a Death Eater, she was forced to follow the wishes of her husband, or lose her family and son forever._

_As the new head of the Black family, Harry Potter couldn't allow the continued subjection of one of his family, and ransomed the former Mrs. Malfoy from Riddle._

_After the meeting, Harry Potter gave an interview to this reporter and Luna Lovegood, a reporter for the Quibbler. (See pages 7-13 for the full interview.)_

_Mr. Potter has stated his determination to finish his NEWTs at Hogwarts this year and find the information he needs to beat Riddle, who has had a bad month. In the last month, Mr. Potter has been a constant thorn in Riddle's side. He has defeated an attack on Diagon Alley with the help of the Windenmere group and a "Diagon Alley Defense Group", and Mr. Potter is hiding more than four hundred people who have fled the service of Riddle._

_In addition to that, Mr. Potter assisted Hermione Granger-Black in capturing Severus Snape, the_ _murderer who killed Professor Albus Dumbledore and he gave the testimony that convicted Snape of that crime before his escape from the Aurors._

_In other news, Mr. Potter has allowed the Comet Broomstick Company to take pictures of him riding the new Comet 310, and he will be using that Broomstick to play Seeker for Gryffindor this year. Mr. Potter also funded the creation of this paper, which will report the news with all the blunt honesty of a Bludger._

_Mr. Potter has also opened a line of communication with the Ministry, and they are discussing ways to alleviate the current annoyance that is Mr. Riddle. Mr. Potter is confident that the Minister of Magic will find a way to use the Aurors to the fullest extent possible in defending the people of Britain._

_Lord Black, also known as Harry Potter, (See page 4 for a full list of Mr. Potter's titles,) has reported the death of Bellatrix Black-Lestrange in a Duel with Miranda Riddle (No relation to Tom Riddle) Black. Miranda Black is recovering from injuries received in the duel._

_Lucius Malfoy, in a deal to save his life, has signed the Malfoy assets to Harry Potter and left_ _Britain forever. His current whereabouts are unknown. Draco Malfoy is also missing. Narcissa Black has divorced Lucius Malfoy and has sworn an oath to follow the rules of the head of the Black family, who is Harry Potter._

_In the last few weeks, Harry Potter has begun doing things in anticipation of the changes that will come around when he comes of age at the end of the month. His Solicitor, Nicholas Sharpstar, has asked the Wizengamot to consider two new laws, both of which are aimed at improving Wizard society in tangible ways. The first will prevent unlawful imprisonments, such as happened to Sirius Black, by requiring any prisoner of Azkaban have a trial before the Wizengamot, including the administration of Veritaserum before sentencing._

_The second will allow anyone damaged by the actions of another to ask the Wizengamot for damages and fiscal reparations in direct proportion to the damage suffered, which should make people less eager to make damaging accusations about others or to be caught serving the various so called Dark Lords that pop up in our society._

_This paper will be very interested in watching the votes on those two bills, as the only reason one can think of to vote against those bills is a desire to hide or diminish the consequences of illegal or Dark actions._

_This reporter thinks Harry Potter will be a breath of fresh air in the Wizengamot next month and for a long time to come._

_Lemos Veritaseek._

_**OoOoOoO The Light Side, Everywhere, 09-30JUL97 OoOoOoO**_

Over the next three weeks Harry and his allies settled into a routine. The Order Without a Name spent four hours a day training with Moody and the other retired Aurors at the Inferno. Fred and George's Diagon Alley group spent the time they could, after working and doing all the little things that people, even Wizards, have to do to survive.

Harry had gone to Miranda's first session expecting it to be similar to Moody's training. Twenty-one minutes later, Miranda called for Luna and gave Harry to her. Luna had checked on Harry and called for Moody's healer, the irritable old Auror that had seen Harry after the incident in the Inferno. The two of them had spent nearly thirty minutes healing Harry with a variety of spells and potions. When Harry woke up the next morning he blinked, looked around and saw Miranda standing behind Hermione. He stared at her for a minute. "You were trained like that?"

Miranda shrugged. "Sort of. I took it easier on you than they did on me. You don't have the preparation or training I did before I started that level of training."

Harry blinked again. "That was taking it easy?"

Miranda nodded once. Harry shook his head. A sly smile crossed his face. "Are you certain we can't let Moody in on this? I'd be very interested to see how long he'd last." Harry's respect for Miranda had gone up another notch. Already high after the duel with Bellatrix, it went up again after the training session, short as it had been.

"Will you be back for the next session, Mr. Potter?" Miranda was watching him with that blank face she was so good at.

Harry looked at her and shrugged. "Of course." He sighed. "I think we'll have Luna on hand next time though. I think I'll be needing her."

Miranda nodded. "I would have had her on hand this time, but you surprised me. I thought this would be a quick lesson, and you would not be too badly hurt this time. You lasted almost four minutes longer than I thought you would, and put up a much stronger resistance."

Harry was just starting to smile when Miranda shrugged. "That just means I'll have to make the next lesson that much harder."

Harry winced and looked at Luna. "Make sure you've got all the potions you need. I think I'm going to need them."

Luna took the stuffed dragon she had tucked in with Harry the night before. "I think," she said, as she put it away in her bag, "that Miranda's trainers have read an old Muggle book. Their training seems to be right in line with a quote from that book."

Hermione and Ginny were crossing to the bed to join Harry and Pansy was standing in the corner. Miranda looked at Luna. "Would you elaborate, Miss Lovegood? I am not sure what you mean."

Luna looked at her. "You'd have to owl father for the author and book, but the quote is "Whatever does not kill us, only makes us stronger.""

Harry looked up. He stared at Luna while he thought about that. "That's a very cold viewpoint," he said quietly.

"It is," Miranda said, "but the truth is not always warm and fuzzy. Sometimes the truth can be a bitter pill to swallow."

Hermione looked up from the Wizard papers she was reading. "Voldemort was quiet again last night. I think he must be re-evaluating his strategy, since you started destroying the homes and things that belong to his followers."

Harry grinned at Moody. "I was hoping for that. How many houses are gone now?"

Moody smirked. "Twenty-six Death Eater abodes have been completely destroyed, with nineteen deaths on their side and only three injuries on ours. All of those injuries were in the last battle, as it appears that they've started staking out possible targets. Having Dobby pop in before we hit a place, so we know how many people are there is helping a lot."

Harry frowned as he thought. "Make sure everyone is careful tomorrow, I suspect Moldywart may try something as a birthday present."

Moody snorted. "Already handled, Harry. Ron thought of that a week ago, and has been listing possible Wizard targets ever since, in the order Voldemort's likely to attack them."

Harry smiled at the thought of his friend. "His training has really changed Ron. I almost wish I could get some of it."

Ron had changed dramatically since he started doing whatever he was doing. He didn't brag about the training he was getting, or talk about what he did all day when he was gone, but it was obvious to anyone that had known him for very long. To Harry and Hermione, his closest friends for nearly seven years, it was like Ron had been replaced with another being. (Hermione had actually checked, to make sure it was actually Ron and not an imposter under a spell or Polyjuice potion.)

This new Ron treated everything as if he was playing chess. Every move was planned out in advance and Ron had an idea of the strategy he was going to be using before he made his first move. He was still as loyal and friendly as he ever was, and his passion for Quidditch was still there, but he'd started talking with Katie and the other players about strategies and plays. He already had nearly forty new plays that he was eager to try.

The biggest change in him was a willingness to wait before he made a judgment call on a person. He no longer automatically assumed that Slytherins were evil, or that Gryffindors would be good. Hermione had nearly fallen out of her chair the first time he admitted that not all Slytherins were going to be Death Eaters, and Ginny had fallen over the chair she was about to sit in.

Percy was the only Weasley that had not been surprised at the changes in Ron. While the rest of the Weasleys had been known to stare at the new Ron in bemusement sometimes, Percy took it all in stride. "Ron is learning that not everything he knew as a child is true," he said when Harry asked him about it. "He is learning that there are many things that are not openly admitted or said."

Harry had nearly fallen over at Perfect Prefect Percy's next sentence. "A good many things in the Wizard world are treated like masturbation. Everyone does it, everyone knows they do it, but no one talks about it."

Harry tried to ignore that because he was having serious problems in that area himself. Pansy and Hermione were in his bed every night, and Ginny was there as often as she could arrange it, which was great and frustrating at the same time.

After they had started dating, before the death of Professor Dumbledore, Ginny had very explicitly told Harry that she would be a virgin on her wedding night. Harry had agreed and they had snogged and occasionally gone a bit further, but they had not done anything else. Harry had promised Ginny that she would be the first woman he made love to, and that it would be on their wedding night.

That, of course, was before Hermione, Pansy and Ginny had gotten comfortable enough with him to be sleeping nude with him. They were not completely nude, as Hermione was large enough in the chest that she preferred wearing a sports bra and panties to bed, while Pansy usually wore only a very tiny pair of panties. Ginny had taken a little longer to get that comfortable, but now she also only worn panties to sleep with Harry. That was where Harry was having problems. Having three warm and quite willing females pressed up against him every morning when he woke up was every teenage boy's fantasy and Harry wasn't going to deny that he liked it a lot.

It was also insanely frustrating when they kissed him, and he had to stop them after a few kisses and a bit of gentle touching. Harry had to stop them because all of them were willing to explore the next level of their relationship. Hermione was teaching Harry about the games she and Pansy played and while Harry could act as a Dominant, he was not as good as Hermione, who really enjoyed being the Top. Pansy would submit to either of them, but for those games, she preferred Hermione, who had a natural touch for it. Ginny had come to an acceptance that the other two girls played games, but she wasn't interested in that. She had gone a bit further with Pansy and Hermione than she had with Harry, but that was only adding fuel to the fires of desire.

The rest of the Order Without a Name was watching the four-way struggle with amusement. Harry and Pansy had gotten a little too loud one night and everyone knew exactly what was going on.

The Weasleys were happy to know that Harry was not doing anything with Ginny, and the twins were in awe of Harry's willpower. That they thought he was barking mad for turning down the girls was also a given. Neither Fred or George could imagine turning down one pretty girl in their bed, and the thought of refusing to do anything to three willing ladies was as foreign to their nature as being serious.

Given that Lee, Fred and George were now openly sharing a flat with Angelina, Katie and Alicia, that said possible things about the sleeping arrangements in their flat at night that Harry preferred not to think about.

Tonks had started the pool this time, and Harry had listened with amusement at some of the dates people had chosen. The twins were already out of the pool, as they had sworn that the girls would break Harry's resistance within two weeks, and that deadline was gone.

Betting pools were becoming a standard amusement for the Order Without a Name. Someone was always willing to start another pool about what ever was going on that day and most of the people in the Order were willing to risk a Galleon on the pool of the day.

Harry set those thoughts aside and looked at Hermione. "What have we got to do today?"

Hermione smiled. "Nothing."

Harry stared at her. "Nothing?" he parroted in surprise.

Hermione nodded. "Tomorrow, we're going to be running around all day and doing thirty different things, so today you have nothing you have to do."

Harry nodded and smiled. "Well, then today we'll go do a couple of things I've been wanting to do but haven't have the time for. First, I want to see the offices of The Bludger."

The Bludger was the paper Harry had financed. Nicholas Sharpstar had done all the work, finding a place to build the offices and hiring honest people who were willing to follow Harry's rules for news as well as buying the equipment the new paper needed.

Harry had laid down just three rules for the paper. They were not allowed to let anyone sway their coverage of the news. If Harry screwed up and it was news, he expected them to report it just as it happened. They were not allowed to use anagrams, false titles or any way to refer to a person except their name. That meant that Harry didn't have to see the "Boy Who Lived crap in this paper, and Voldemort was called Tom Riddle.

Harry's paper had hit the populace like a lightning bolt, and few people had admitted buying them at first, but the subscription rate was growing in leaps and bounds. Harry wrote an editorial once a week, talking about some portion of the Wizard world that needed change as well as a short defense column once a week. He also had articles by anyone that could help the Wizard or Witch in the street. Molly had consented to do a weekly column on household management and spells.

Pansy was happily writing a gossip column, or at least her name was on it. Lavender and the Patils actually did most of the gossiping, as they were tied into almost every rumour mill, gossip chain or other informal news source in the country. Pansy simply visited with them once a week and got all that information from them, passing anything that Harry should know to him.

Hermione wrote two regular columns. The first was a basic informational article on magic, including theories about various forms of magic. In this column she covered the basics of each branch and type of magic she could find, from Arithmancy to construction of Wands and everything in-between. This column was aimed at Muggleborn Wizards and Witches, and was completely factual.

The second column was an opinion piece, and Hermione wrote about the things she perceived as injustices in the Wizard world, comparing some of the attitudes to the Muggles. In some things, she praised the Wizards, although not many. In most, she compared the two cultures and tore the Wizard biases apart. She was fair about it though, inviting anyone who had another opinion to write in and promising to print their viewpoint next to hers.

Tonks, Moody, Shacklebolt and Amanda took turns writing a series of articles on Wizard law, pointing out ways for ordinary people to defend themselves against Death Eaters without breaking the law. Moody's ideas were as harsh as he was, but the last Death Eater attack, just a week ago had not been stopped by the Order or the Aurors.

A group of lower level Death Eaters had attacked the home of an older Muggleborn Wizard and he had holed up in a warded area and fought, using a crossbow and spells to hold the Death Eaters off until Harry's people had arrived. By the time they arrived, four Death Eaters were down and dying, three more were caught in various spells and only four were undamaged.

The Bludger had blazoned the fight over eight pages, showing the Wizard world that Death Eaters were not invincible and challenging everyone to fight back.

Harry's last rule was that if they made a mistake in the paper, or printed something that was later proven to be false, they would spend as much space reporting their mistake and apologizing as they had spent on the story originally. If The Bludger wrote and article about the Ministry over four pages, and it was later found to be wrong, they would spend four pages correcting the article and offering apologies to the Ministry.

Harry had challenged the other papers to match his paper in honesty and the Daily Prophet had ignored him, while Witch Weekly had openly scoffed at him, claiming that he was just using his fame to make more money.

Harry's attempts to buy both papers had fallen apart, and Mr. Sharpstar had James Michaels looking into who actually owned the two businesses. The Prophet especially, was far too deep in Fudge's pocket and too willing to make allowances for Death Eaters to be completely innocent.

"Harry, we've got a group Apparation."

Harry spun, looking at Amanda, who was monitoring the newest decoration on the wall of Harry's room. "How many? Do we have someone ready to Portkey in?"

Amanda was already charming one of the returning Portkeys Hermione had created for Harry. "Seven people, out past Hastings. None of them are Aurors to our knowledge." She held out the key and Charlie Weasley took it. "I am up for this one," he said and disappeared.

Hermione, Remus and Shacklebolt, with the assistance of the Unspeakable Croaker had created a new map. Based on the original Marauder's Map, this map was as far above that one as it was over a Muggle map.

This map was three metres long and just as high. It showed the British Islands most of the time. When the map detected an Apparation of more than three people to the same place, it would zoom in on that spot. Unlike the first Map, this one didn't show names, simply the number of people that were there and where they were.

It could detect the simple medallion that all Aurors wore as a badge of authority and would mark those people carrying one with a small ring around their dot. To get any more information, someone had to go take a look.

That was where the Granger-Potter Portkey came into use. A thick bracelet, it was covered in a Rune pattern that Hermione had worked out. Unlike a regular Portkey, this one was resettable to a new destination. Amanda had set this one to put Charlie down about fifty metres from the group.

Exactly five seconds after he arrived, Charlie would be brought back to Harry's room. The Portkey could be set for different return times, although the Runes had to be adjusted for that but five seconds was enough time to tell if the group were Death Eaters or something else without allowing the group enough time to see and target Harry's fighter.

Charlie reappeared and was smiling. "False alarm. It was a group of people from Witch Weekly doing a photo shoot."

The group relaxed. Harry sighed. "Hermione, could you duplicate the Marauder's Map here?"

"I might be able to, Harry," Hermione said, "but I won't."

Harry cocked his head, looking at her. "Harry, we are at war with a specific group. If I can figure out how to follow the Mark, like I did with the Auror's medallions, I will. Spying on the rest of the Wizards is just wrong and I will not help you do it." She looked at him. "You don't need to know what every wizard or witch is doing, or the names of the ones doing something that may or may not be legal, unless they have a Dark Mark."

Pansy smirked. "But Hermione," she started to say, only to fall silent at Hermione's look.

Harry sighed. "I suppose you're right. I do want something else though. Can you make a medallion for my people, that will show up on the Apparation map? That way, we can keep track of our people, in case something happens to them."

Hermione frowned, looking into the distance. "I think so. It might take a few days but if I modify the modified Protean Charm I used on the DA Galleons," Her voice faded away and she shook her head. "Give me a few days, Harry, and it may not be a medallion. Some of the guys wouldn't wear a necklace if you paid them to, and some of the girls would complain that it clashed."

She thought about it. "A ring with a minor glamour on it, so it matches whatever the person is wearing and does not look like everyone else's ring. That would give our people away."

Harry sighed. "Please remember to make at least one medallion, Hermione. I'm out of fingers for rings."

Hermione smirked and whispered something in his ear that made Harry wince and blush. "Forget it. That will happen the same day Snape and Ron willingly hug."

Hermione sighed. "Pity. It could lead to so many interesting experiences." Harry just shook his head.

"Harry Potter Sir, we have a new house elf. Apparently, his family threw him out when he was too old to serve them anymore. He's looking for a family to bond to." Dobby was standing near the door to the rest of the Dursley's house. Dobby had changed even more than Ron. He was neat and clean, and as calm and organized as Harry was.

Hermione had done a great deal of research, and she had finally revealed what she'd discovered about house elves and their magic. Dobby had said they felt good, like flying when they served when Hermione had first asked him about it, but that had been based on his vocabulary and state of mind then.

A house elf had to be bonded to someone or someplace or they went insane. If they were bonded however, they could do anything their master thought they could, within limits. house elf magic grew in direct proportion to their master's magic, allowing them to do whatever their master thought they could do. Harry didn't really think Dobby or Winky had limits, so their only effective limits were the magic they had.

Basically, the house elf magic made them what their master wanted them to be. Harry wanted them to be people, like the rest of his friends, so that is what he got. Wizards that just wanted a self propelled cleaning machine got what they wanted.

House elf intelligence was based on the master's opinion as well. Harry thought they were as smart as Wizards, so they were, for him. People that thought house elves were stupid limited their intelligence.

Hermione had noticed the changes in Dobby and Winky only because of her obsession with their welfare. Before the Trio, no Wizard had bothered learning anything about house elves for two thousand years. They were just there, and the abilities of the elves had been lost in the mists of time, until a Muggleborn Witch and a Muggle raised Wizard looked at them with new eyes.

Harry and Hermione were keeping that bit of news secret until after the war with Voldemort was over, as they didn't want to give the Death Eaters any ideas about using their house elves to fight or spy, as Dobby was doing for Harry now. Winky, would have done it as well, but the idea scared her, and Harry didn't even ask her to help in the fighting side. Winky spent most of her time now with Luna, helping her make potions and study healing.

Harry had told Dobby to leave her alone about that as well. "You're a Gryffindor type, Dobby," Harry told him, "and Winky is a Hufflepuff. She's doing what she can, and we'll do what we do."

Dobby had listened to Harry but it was Winky's announcement a week later that had quieted Dobby's feelings instantly.

Winky was going to be a mother.

Dobby had been so surprised at that announcement that he'd walked into a wall. The Wizards had taken it in stride, except for Hermione, who knew something about house elves that the rest of them didn't, except for Luna. Apparently, it took a little loving and several doses of a rare plant for both of the house elves involved to create a new life.

Luna cleared up that mystery for Hermione quickly. She had promised to give the two of them enough of the plant to procreate the night the Burrow was attacked, and she'd simply kept her word. Harry didn't understand why anyone but Dobby and Winky even cared if they had a family until Hermione told him that Winky would not be able to serve for at least a year after the birth and that after that year was up, Harry would have to find places for their children, who would be born bonded to Harry.

All six of them. Hermione told a flabbergasted Harry that house elf births were always in sixes, three of each sex.

Harry had promptly started asking people he trusted if they'd like to have a house elf. So far, he'd offered one to Tonks and Remus, Miranda, Amanda and a few others. He had thought about offering one to Molly, but Ron had quickly nixed that idea.

So far, none of them wanted an elf, and it looked as if Harry was going to have the cleanest home in the world when the young house elves started working for him. Harry would have at least eight house elves, not counting any that were on the various properties that he would be able to access on his birthday, all of whom were bonded to him personally.

"Harry," Fleur said, disrupting his musings, "what do you want to do about the Wizengamot reports? Are we going to share them with the Windenmere people?"

Harry looked at Pansy. "Do they have them already?"

Pansy looked at the ceiling. She looked at the floor, apparently not finding the answer in the ceiling. Since the floor didn't have the answer either, she looked at Harry. "It's possible that I might have alluded to the reports a time or two while talking to my father."

Henry James Michaels, the investigator that Solicitor Sharpstar used had compiled a series of reports on every member of the Wizengamot for Nicholas. The reports were used to judge how a member would vote on any particular law, so that Nicholas and Harry could determine the best way to sway, coerce or outright manipulate them into the right way of thinking. Usually, that simply meant that Harry would have a few words with the member in question.

Despite appearances, most of the Wizengamot was made up of decent people, willing to listen and judge laws and cases on their merits. There were a few of them that were Death Eaters and a few more that were so conservative that Harry believed they wouldn't change their underwear without being forced to. Those people had their opinions set in stone, no matter who talked to them.

Harry could talk until he was blue in the face, the Death Eaters could scream, bluster and threaten, but those few, (whom Harry called the Old Fogies,) wouldn't budge an inch from their ideas and convictions. They could be gotten around, though, simply by making any law look as though it appealed to their idea of how the world was.

Nicholas Sharpstar was excellent at Slytherin-wording the laws they wanted passed.

That only left one group, the ones that supported Voldemort. They automatically fought any law Harry entered Harry had not yet gotten to the point where his power base was strong enough to simply expose them all as Death Eaters, so he was forced to work around them.

Harry shook his head. He was easily sidetracked today for some reason. He looked at Pansy again. "I just wanted to know if I needed to send them the reports," he said mildly. "If you've given them to your father already, I won't bother sending them again."

Pansy sighed. "No, he doesn't have them yet."

Harry raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Really? You're slipping, Pansy. I'd have thought sending those reports to your family would have been a priority. Go ahead and send them a copy today."

Hermione and Ginny were exchanging a long look after staring at Pansy. Pansy missed the exchange and smiled at Harry. "Thank you, Harry."

The Floo flared up then, and Narcissa Black stepped into the room. "Lord Black," she said, as formal as always, "I am uncertain if I hate you enough to curse you, or wish to compete with those three for your affections."

Hermione, Ginny and Pansy glared at her. Harry just cocked his head, remembering the meeting that had brought Narcissa into his family, again. Harry sighed. "What is the problem, Ms. Black?"

_**OoOoOoO Raven, At Home, 01SEP07 OoOoOoO**_

_I don't like the thought of children or babies dying, but Voldemort was trying to drown out the death of Bella, and make it unimportant to anyone that heard about it. The violent deaths of a dozen children under ten would do that. From the viewpoint of a cold blooded murderer, who doesn't give a damn for anyone but himself, it's the perfect response._

_You may have noticed a change in the writing style here. For the next couple of chapters, we're going to find out about things as the characters talk about things that have already happened, with occasional flashbacks to important events._

_After the Hogwarts group returns to Hogwarts, the style will go back to current day first or second person, depending on what's happening._

_Next, I am going to be working on BoB7, in which Harry will continue to do things. (What a Surprise that is, huh?)_

_I also have a pair of Bunnies in the works. One will show us Harry's vengeance on the Dursleys._

_The second will show what Harry's friends do to them, when they don't think Harry went far enough._

_Raven_


	12. Freedom, Duty and Responsibility

_Here we go with Harry's birthday. Harry has five hundred things to do today and the first thing is dealing with the Dursleys. That event can be found in "Sweet Sweet Revenge", along with the things that the girls are going to do to the miserable moronic Muggles that have been __masquerading__ as his family for sixteen years. This chapter begins just five minutes after Harry has walked away from Privet Dr. for the last time. For those of you that remember the scene with Narcissa Malfoy at the end of the last chapter, we're not going to find out what her problem was until next chapter, so just be patient. I guarantee you will find out._

_Yes, I was gone for far too long, (Blame the dead computer) and this is very short for me. It's that way for a reason, which I will explain in the A/N at the end of the chapter. I do update my profile fairly regularly, so if you wondering why I'm not writing, you could check that. This chapter is not yet Betaed, as it has been so long that I thought I'd just post it and replace it with the Betaed version later._

_Insanely unneeded disclaimer: I don't own any of this, except the plot and even that was inspired by Jeconais' "White Knight, Grey Queen". I might have changed it just a bit though._

_**Harry Potter and the Shades of Grey**_

_**Chapter Twelve**_

_**Freedom, Duty and Responsibility**_

_**OoOoOoO Harry and crew, Diagon Alley, 31JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry Potter stepped out of the Floo in the Leaky Cauldron and looked around. He stepped to the side as more people started pouring out of the Floo. Miranda, closely followed by Hermione, Ginny and Pansy were first. Behind them came four hooded and cloaked wizards that sat down in the common room in places that gave them clear views of the Floo, the door to London and the alley's door.

Harry and Hermione stepped up to the bar where Tom was wiping the counter. "Good morning, Mr. Potter, and happy birthday."

Harry smiled at him. "I think we've known each other long enough to dispense with the Mr Potters, Tom. Especially since I don't know your last name. Is our room ready?"

Tom nodded. "It's the same room you had when you stayed here before, Harry." Tom passed a key to Harry and Hermione passed a small pile of Galleons to Tom.

"Harry, let's go," she urged, frowning at a watch. "We're on a very tight schedule. You can talk with Tom after we've finished with our business."

Harry allowed himself to be pulled up the stairs and into a familiar room that didn't look as if it had changed at all. He smiled as he remembered fighting with the 'Monster Book of Monsters' in this room.

Miranda stood by the door while Hermione took over the desk, laying out several stacks of parchments and scrolls. Ginny and Pansy sat on the bed and watched Hermione. Hermione looked up at the others. "We have to go. We're going to be returning from Gringotts in a few minutes and we have to be gone before we get back."

Harry Potter turned seventeen today, and he had a lot of things to do. Since he didn't want to take the chance that the Death Eaters would attack in a large crowd and possibly hurt bystanders, they had come up with a plan to make their public appearances as short and confusing as possible. Turning seventeen in the Wizard world was generally a matter of importance only to the young person and his family.

Harry Potter, The Boy-Who-Lived, Baron Potter, Lord Black, Head of house Montrose, was incapable of doing anything normally, as his friends reminded him and today was no different. Harry would gain control of three families today, as well as having to decide what he was going to do with the Malfoy assets. He smirked as he thought about his plans for most of the Malfoy assets.

Andromeda Tonks and several people from the Windenmere families had spent a lot of time over the last four weeks checking Malfoy manor and the other Malfoy properties for Dark items and curses and were finally satisfied that they were clean. Harry had not asked how or why the Windenmeres knew so much about Dark items and curses. He had been busy himself, reading and learning about his families.

The Potter histories were long, but the Potters were a traditionally Light side family and there had been very few surprises in their long and illustrious history.

The Montroses, on the other hand, while not dark, had been a merchant family, dealing in magical goods and businesses around the world and their history was full of agreements, deals and debts, both to and from the Montrose family. Pansy, Blaise and Daphne had spent hours going over the books, deciding what they were going to do. Daphne, whose parents were also merchants, had turned out to have a knack for figuring out how the deals and debts interacted and how to make a profit from them. That she could ask for advice from her folks, who had been doing this very same thing for nearly fifty years hadn't hurt either. They had a long list of things that Harry would deal with when it came time to accept the mantle of House Montrose.

Harry sighed. The houses of Potter and Montrose didn't worry him. While complex, all of the Montrose agreements were business deals. The Ancient and Noble House of Black on the other hand, was a Byzantine web of deceit, murder, betrayals, feuds and alliances that made Petunia's daytime serials look simple and innocent. Had it not been for one thing, Harry would have simply turned down that inheritance. However, if Harry turned it down, it would go to the next heir. Since the three Black sisters, Andromeda, Bellatrix and Narcissa had no male children that could inherit and Regulus and Sirius had died without children, that left the cadet branches of the house. The nearest relative was the Flint family, and Harry was not going to allow the Death Eaters to get their hands on Sirius's things. He didn't know if Marcus Flint was a Death Eater, but the rest of the Flint family was solidly in Voldemort's corner and he was not going to take the chance that Marcus might be different without some very convincing proof.

Harry shook off the thoughts of the Black family and considered what they would doing today.

Pansy had gotten a Time Turner from one of the Windenmeres and they were going to be using it several times today. Harry had to go to Gringotts to open all three of his Family Vaults and start the procedures to convert the Malfoy holdings to his name, or one of them. After that, he had to record his intentions for the Wizengamot seats he controlled, place his proxies in the ones he would not be sitting in and record his families and his new Clan.

After that he had to stop by Madame Malkin's to get Wizengamot robes and family robes for official occasions, an event he was not looking forward to, and then they were going to go to Grimmauld place to spend the night. Tomorrow, he would look at the properties that he would be getting today to choose his new home. Harry suspected that the girls had something planned for his birthday but he had carefully not noticed. His thoughts were interrupted as Hermione stood up from the desk and grabbed the first stack of papers they would need for the meetings at Gringotts. "Let's go, Harry," she said, looking at her watch. "We're in position right now, so we can get to Gringotts without seeing ourselves on the way."

Ginny frowned. "That gives me a headache. How many of us are running around Diagon Alley right now anyway?"

The five of them started down the stairs as Hermione thought about it. "Right now, just two sets of us. Later there will be a twenty minute period when there will be four of us in four places at once. We'll be in Gringotts, the Ministry, Madame Malkin's and giving Rita an interview at the same time."

Pansy frowned. "That's not going to have any affects on us, is it?"

Hermione shook her head. "No. I asked about that. As long as we don't interact with ourselves there will not be a problem."

Harry looked around as they walked to Gringotts. Four wizards in red trimmed robes followed them openly and Harry didn't bother looking for the others. Most of the Wizard world knew that Harry Potter was coming of age today and that he would have to come to Gringotts to do things related to that. With Voldemort still out there, Harry was not taking any chances today. The four wizards were their obvious escort, there to let everyone see them. Somewhere around here were ten more wizards led by Moody. That group of wizards were a hidden asset and they would stay that way until something happened.

The group reached Gringotts without an incident and stepped inside. Harry looked around. He saw Mr. Sharpstar and walked over to him. "Good morning, Mr. Potter." Nicholas Sharpstar had warned Harry that he would be very formal in public today and Harry responded in kind.

"Good morning, Solicitor Sharpstar. Are you prepared for the Potter meeting?"

"I am, Mr. Potter. The conference room is ready and our appointment is in four minutes." He looked over at a group of people. "Our guests are here as well. Since you're here, there's no reason to wait. We have a lot to do today." He walked over to a goblin and said something. The goblin nodded and Sharpstar beckoned to Harry and the other people waiting.

The group followed the goblin down a hallway to a door and went into the room. Miranda went in first, leaving Harry shaking his head. How she always managed to get past everyone to get into any room first without knocking anyone over was truly a mystery.

In the room, Harry went to one end of the table as he'd been told to do. Nicholas sat down on the right side of the table and the others sat down close to Harry. There was a goblin sitting at the other end of the table. "Good Morning, Wizard Potter. I am Nocktooth, the administrator for vaults 550 through 900. Since your vault falls in my area, I have been assigned to oversee the transfer of authority in this matter." He looked at his papers in front of him. "We have gathered here to witness the passing of the Potter family to its new Head. Wizard Potter is claiming that title. Does anyone here dispute that claim?"

He looked up and waited a few seconds. No one said anything and he continued. "Solicitor Sharpstar has given me the proofs of Wizard Potter's claim and since no one has a better claim, we will continue."

"Wizard Potter, you have the Potter Histories, debts, agreements and accounts of your family. Will there be any changes?"

Hermione was already passing the stacks of papers to Harry. "First, I have offered to bring several people into my family. They will be accorded every right of a Potter as shown in these papers. They will be cousins except for Pansy Parkinson-Potter. She will be my younger sister and the heir of the Potters until there is an heir of my blood. Her children, except her first born child, shall remain cadet branch heirs of the Potter family so long as her line remains within the Potter family rules. Violet Bulstrode-Potter will also be a younger sister."

Pansy stared at Harry. She had not been told about this. Harry smiled at her and returned his attention back to the goblin. "All of the family agreements will stand except for the agreement between the Potters and the Goyles, dated 1459. The Potter family withdraws from that agreement, and will pay the one thousand Galleon penalty for withdrawing without notice."

Harry passed the adoption papers down the table to the goblin. "I will have my will witnessed and recorded today, outlining how the estate will be divided, both before and after my marriage."

The goblin looked up. "Marriage, Wizard Potter?"

"I will marry Ginevra Weasley three days after her majority, provided that we are both still alive and agreeable to the match. Miss Weasley will assume all the duties, rights and privileges of Lady Potter."

The goblin made another note. "And the Bride price, Wizard Potter?"

Mr. Weasley looked up at that. "The Weasley family waives the Bride price."

Hermione and Pansy sighed. Harry ignored them and looked at Mr. Weasley. He was just one of the people that had joined them for this meeting. Molly had come, as Harry had asked his surrogate family to witness this meeting, along with several other people he respected or liked.

The passing of a family line to a new head was always witnessed by twelve Witches or Wizards of good character and Harry had invited the Weasleys, Mad-Eye Moody, Augusta and Neville Longbottom, Professor McGonagall, Narcissa Black, Andromeda Tonks, Gawain Robards, Blaise Zabini-Montrose, Daphne Greengrass-Black and Mrs. Warrington to be the witnesses.

Harry pushed those thoughts away as he stared at Mr. Weasley. "Wizard Weasley, are you trying to insult the future Lady Potter? As a member of an old family, you should know that Lady Potter's status is partially determined by her Bride price."

Arthur sighed. "I thought you wanted to change the Wizard world," he said mildly, "to bring it into the modern age."

"I do," Harry said, "but I am not going to start with traditions so old that their very beginnings are lost in time. There are plenty of things to work on that are far more pressing. Nor do I want to stint on this, and have people say that Lady Potter is less than Lady Montrose or Lady Black."

Molly looked at the three girls. "I hate to admit it," she told Arthur, "but Harry is right. Ginny will be considered a second wife, lower than the other two if Harry gives a lesser Bride price for her."

Arthur sighed again. The whole idea of selling Ginny was uncomfortable to him. "Fine. What price will you pay for Ladies Black and Montrose?"

Harry took a deep breath, watching the girls. The four of them had spent hours deciding on Bride prices for each of them that was high enough to insure their status without being so high as to cause comment. Harry, after a talk with Pansy's father, had a different plan and he wasn't sure how the girls were going to take it. "Ten thousand Galleons each."

Everyone present stared at Harry in disbelief. "Harry," said three female voices nearly in unison and Harry held up his hands.

"It is my choice." Harry looked at the three girls, focusing first on Ginny. "Ginny, are Hermione and Pansy worth that much?"

"Yes, of course they are."

Harry looked at the next woman. "Hermione, are Pansy and Ginny worth that much?"

"Barring my belief that the entire idea of Bride prices is outdated, insulting, chauvinistic, barbaric and reduces women to cattle, yes they are."

Harry had to smile for just a second as he remembered some of the things Hermione had said when she found out that Harry would be giving her father money to marry her. He pushed that aside as he looked at Pansy. "Pansy, are Hermione and Ginny worth that price?"

Pansy was frowning as she thought about it. "Maybe. It's a very high Bride price for a simple Mrs Montrose, and high for the bride of a Baron. It is a good price for a Lord's Lady, high enough to maintain a good status. Now, as an indication that we will share status, without rank between us, it is a good offer, raising the other two without bringing down Lady Black."

Hermione had a lock of hair in her teeth as she thought about it. Pansy reached over and took it out of her mouth, giving it a sharp tug. Hermione winced and glared at her but didn't say anything to her. She looked back at Harry. "Harry's right. Given the archaic system of status that we are working within, this is actually the best way to go about it."

The goblin made another note. "I will have the papers drawn up and ready for signing shortly. While we wait for that, are there any new matters for the Potter family?"

The Potters are entering into a number of alliances. These papers show those agreements." Harry passed the goblin several more parchments. "In addition, the Potter family is entering into a newly formed Clan. The Ancient and Noble House of Black will head this new Clan."

The goblin looked up. "A new Clan, Wizard Potter?"

_**OoOoOoO Harry and the allies, Longbottom Estate, 21JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry looked around the room. He looked for Hermione, Pansy and Ginny first, uncomfortable with being the focus of everyone's attention. Augusta Longbottom's meeting on the 15th had been interesting and this meeting was the result.

They had been in the ballroom in Longbottom Manor for about an hour. The head of every family currently working with Harry was here, along with the Lovegoods and the Longbottoms. Harry was waiting for Mrs. Longbottom to start this meeting.

Augusta Longbottom tapped on a glass and waited until everyone was quiet. "Harry Potter and I met some time ago to discuss some things relating to this venture. Since then I have met with all of you for two reasons. First, I wanted to know each of you and second, I asked all of you to consider something." She looked around. "We all know that Mr. Potter has to deal with the being called Voldemort. At the same time, we all have goals that we cannot accomplish separately. Since none of our goals are mutually incompatible I suggest that we form a new Clan to further all of our goals."

Augusta watched the group as she allowed them to think about it. The Weasleys, solidly Light side and good people, despite their total lack of regard for money. Molly Weasley would open doors with the Prewitts as well, another Light side family whose reclusive nature was part of their charm.

The Lovegoods, stranger than the animals they hunted for, but with an odd way of seeing hidden things.

Alastair Moody, as brave as any Gryffindor, despite having been a Ravenclaw.

The families of the Windenmere group, loyal as any Hufflepuff, but capable of a pragmatic ruthlessness that would appal a Slytherin.

Augusta Longbottom had spent nearly twenty years watching her only child and the woman she'd grown to love as a daughter waste away. She had been jerked out of the Pureblood mindset that said the Ministry and the DMLE would take care of things and the events of the last four years had only increased her distaste for the people running the Ministry. There were a few good ones, Amelia Bones had been one of them until her death and some others tried, but for the most part, the Ministry had become a quagmire of corruption, indifference and stupidity. She still believed in the traditions but her faith in the people running the Wizard world was gone.

She was joining this group for two reasons. First, ever since Neville had joined Harry, he had changed and she could see his father in him now. Even after the incident at the Ministry, he had politely but firmly argued with her about Harry and the things they did. The Longbottom family owed Harry Potter. The second reason was all hers though. She knew that Harry and the younger people with him had plans for the Wizard world and she wanted to insure that the traditions that meant something were left intact.

All of Harry's friends were bits of a whole. Together, they were far more than the sum of their parts. The Granger girl, despite some strange Muggle ideas, was brilliant, capable of research and learning that few could match.

She had dismissed Ron Weasley from the early reports, but even he was changing. Wherever he went when he wasn't with Harry was doing him a world of good.

Ginny Weasley was another one that she had thought was with Harry strictly because of her hormones, but she was a fighter. She hadn't broken down after killing someone in the battle of Diagon Alley and she had faced Death Eaters more than most Aurors. Augusta sighed. She'd seen only the persona of a girl with a crush and never bothered to look deeper. That might have been a mistake.

Pansy Parkinson had grown up with the Purebloods and could keep Harry from making mistakes that would reduce his effectiveness and if Augusta's eyes didn't deceive her, she was falling hard for Harry Potter. That would bring that Windenmere loyalty into play.

Augusta looked at Harry, conversing quietly with Moody and Mrs. Warrington. He was not much to look at, at first glance. Short and skinny, looking as if a strong wind would blow him over, she had no doubt that many would dismiss him out of hand if it wasn't for his reputation and the legend that had grown up around him.

Talking to Harry though, showed an entirely different side of him. He was charismatic and a leader. Given what she'd been able to find out about his upbringing and life so far, they had to be natural talents. When she'd decided the explore the idea of a clan, she'd called in favours from all over and right now, she probably knew more about Harry's life than anyone but Harry. She knew that Dumbledore had been up to something, manipulating Harry and his life, but without whatever knowledge the headmaster had been working from, or the chance to ask him what he'd been doing, all she could do was wait and see what came of Dumbledore's actions.

Noticing that most of her guests had stopped talking to each other, Augusta prepared to open the discussion. "We all know what Mr. Potter has done in the last few years, and especially in the last three months. He has shown himself to be the leader we need in these dark days. The Ministry is not capable of dealing with the Death Eaters. The Minister may be a decent leader, but he is a politician, who will consolidate his power first and worry about the people second." She paused to take a sip of her drink and moisten her throat. "As the head of three or four families, depending on what he does with the Malfoy name, he has the power to make the Wizengamot listen to him. Using the Potter or Black names, he can make the Pureblood families listen to him. Added to that, he is young and liberal enough to appeal to the younger people. He has everything he needs to be a force for positive change in the future, except one thing. Mr. Potter needs a power base of people that he can trust. We can be that group."

Alistair Moody nodded. He'd seen the intensity that Harry put into his training and the power the boy tried to control. "Not a lot of people in my family, but the Moody family will join this group."

Mr Weasley was talking quietly with Molly. "The Weasley family will stand with Harry."

Harry was frowning as he looked around. "Hermione, didn't you tell me that starting a new clan required twenty families?" Hermione nodded. "The Windenmeres have twelve families, and we can add the Weasley, Moody, Potter, Black, Montrose Longbottom and Lovegood names to that. Aren't we missing one?"

Hermione sighed. "Harry, you control the Malfoy name as well, remember?"

Harry blinked. "I'd forgotten about that." He looked at the girls. "You three aren't looking for a Mrs. Malfoy for me, are you?"

Pansy looked at her nails. "Millicent Bulstrode isn't doing anything."

Harry stared at her in horror and Hermione and Ginny looked sick. Pansy watched them for a second and then smirked. "Gotcha." Harry felt a wave of relief. "Although, we could open another leak in Riddle's people if we took a Death Eater girl and put her in the Malfoy name."

Harry shook his head. He pulled in a little closer. "I want to marry Ginny and Hermione," he paused for a second, staring at Pansy and continued. "And we have a deal, but I will not marry anyone without love."

Ginny smiled as she shared a look with Hermione. "How much longer before we tell him?"

Hermione was studying Pansy and Harry. "Not much longer, I think."

Harry was distracted as Mrs. Longbottom started talking again. "We are different people and except for the one goal that brought us all together, we have different expectations. If we're going to do this, let's set some Clan rules that we can all live with."

It took more than four hours to hammer out a basic set of rules that would become the basis of the new Clan's traditions over the years to come, if it continued. The Windenmere families refused to change their ways, so the new clan had very few rules about morality. The only family related rule Harry insisted on was the Clan head's right to investigate any rumours or talk of child abuse in any form. "I grew up with that sort of thing and I know first hand what it can do to children. I will not permit that to happen to any child I am responsible for."

Mrs. Longbottom insisted that at least some of the old traditions be kept and in the discussion that followed Harry and Hermione learned a lot of things they hadn't known before. Most of their experiences with Pureblood tradition had been bad, but there were a lot of old ways that they hadn't learned about. Some of them were simply things that school age children wouldn't worry about, like the care of elderly people in a family and others were considered common knowledge, so much so that people didn't speak of them.. It was simply assumed that everyone knew them. The order of precedence when entering a formal event and dozens of others, most of which were not good or bad, although some of them seemed silly to the Muggleborn or raised.

They finally decided to work out the base of the clan rules and worry about the rest of it as they worked out the differences between families. It had taken nearly a week to get the Clan charter written up the way they wanted it and no one was completely satisfied with the result, but they could all live with it. Alistair Moody had shrugged. "That is the art of compromise after all, lad. You give a little, I give a little and we meet somewhere in the middle."

_**OoOoOoO Baron Potter, Gringotts, 31JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry sighed as he examined the Potter key. It was a small gold key, not much different from the one he'd had for years. This key though, had a few things attached to it that his first key didn't have. Control of the Potter family, a title, and now that the paperwork was finished, a family that Harry was responsible for. The weight of those people was far heavier than the small key.

"Baron Potter, are you ready to hold the next meeting?" Harry looked at Nocktooth and nodded. "Baron Potter, since the Head of a family is a separate entity from the person that holds the title, until you are confirmed as the Head of the Montrose and Black families, I will refer to you as Wizard Potter. It is not disrespect, merely a legal fiction."

Harry looked at the goblin. "I will not take offence, but can you explain how I can be four separate people? I am only one person."

The goblin frowned as he thought about the question. "Harry Potter is a person. Baron Potter is a title. When one person, such as Harry Potter holds two or more titles, the titles are held separately. Think of the titles as similar to an elected position. Harry Potter can be elected to the Ministry of Magic, but when he goes home, he is a man, a husband, a father. The title of Head of Family is like that. In the middle ages, as families started dying out or intermarrying and combining, something had to be done about one person holding several titles. This was the simplest way to do something about the problem. The Head of a Family registered with the Ministry is a separate legal entity from the person who holds that title."

Harry frowned. He understood the concept but a glaring problem presented itself to him. "So, under these rules, Harry Potter is not responsible for any crimes Baron Potter commits, correct?"

The goblin nodded. "That is correct."

Harry looked at him. "But if Baron Potter is convicted of a crime, Harry Potter and all the other titles go to jail together, don't they?"

The goblin nodded again. "That is also correct. It is a flaw."

Hermione sighed. "Harry, please try to avoid getting in trouble with any of your persona."

Harry looked at Hermione as Ginny and Pansy burst out giggling. "I never look for trouble. It finds me without any problem."

Ginny stopped giggling long enough to say, "trouble doesn't find Harry, because it doesn't get far enough away to lose him."

Harry sighed. "Thanks for the optimistic view."

Pansy shrugged. "Honest viewpoint, Harry, but so far, you have always beaten everything trouble can throw at you, and now you have a great many people that will help you fight."

Harry smiled at her and caressed her cheek with the back of his hand. Harry was not good at verbal displays of affection, the girls were finding, but he had a dozen little things he would only do to or with them. Harry didn't touch many people, and the gentle touching of their face with the back of his hand was a gesture he used only on them.

More telling were his eyes. There was a way he had of looking at the three of them that said more than any words. It wasn't lust, it wasn't starstruck love, it was something that said you were the centre of his attention right then, and that you were more than merely important to him.

Hermione's thoughts were interrupted as Harry started back into the conference room. She followed him into the room as the other people that would be here for the Montrose meeting. Hermione knew very few of these people, mostly the witnesses. There were twenty or so people that she didn't know, although Blaise and Daphne seemed to know them.

She noticed that quite a few of the new people were foreigners, which she had known but not fully grasped. It's one thing to see a tourist wandering around Muggle London. It is another thing to see foreign Wizards and Witches in the clothing native to their lands. Judging from the clothing Hermione could recognize, some areas of the Wizard world were as far behind the Muggles as British Wizards while other parts were closer to the Muggles. Hermione barely kept herself from staring at two Witches, both Japanese. One of them was wearing a traditional kimono and obi and the other was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a techno band Hermione had never heard of on the front.

The Montrose meeting didn't have any real surprises, being mostly Harry and Blaise renewing or changing business agreements that had been in abeyance for thirty years. Hermione found it only typical of the wizard world that they would wait more then thirty years to resume business. Pansy and Ginny left about half-way through the meeting with one of the Japanese witches.

They came back a few minutes later and Hermione frowned. Both of them had strained looks and they were unusually quiet for the rest of the meeting. Between the attention Harry was paying to the agreements that he was making and the quiet tension of the next two meetings, he didn't notice the looks the two of them had.

Hermione had the biggest surprise of the meeting. "Hermione Granger-Black is my heir until there is an heir of my blood. Hermione Granger-Black and I will be married two weeks after Baron Potter and Ginny Weasley are wedded, provided we are both still alive and willing." Hermione frowned but didn't say anything. She knew that she was the only possible heir as long as she wore the Matriarch's amulet. It would have been nice of Harry to tell her about this, though.

Hermione had a chance to talk to Ginny and Pansy for a few minutes while they waited for the people that would be joining them for the Black meeting. They had twenty minutes between each meeting, both to give the other parties with an interest time to be assembled and so Hermione could use the Time Turner on the people that needed to be in three places at once. As soon as she was done with the Time Turner this time, she turned to the other two girls. "What happened?"

Pansy looked around. No one was paying attention to them and she moved closer to Hermione and hugged her. With her face hidden in Hermione's hair she whispered in her ear. "Do you remember that letter Harry got from the Japanese Wizard?" Hermione nodded. "He has to answer it soon. I don't have time to explain right now, but after the meeting I'll tell you everything."

"You better."

Pansy grinned in Hermione's hair and kissed the side of her neck. "Will you punish me if I don't?"

"No, I'll be nice to you for a week if you don't."

Pansy sighed and let her go. "You don't play fair."

Hermione smiled and grabbed Pansy by the hair with one hand. "On the other hand, if you tell me what I want to know, I can always reward you for your work." She tightened her grip enough to make Pansy gasp and let go. She smiled at Pansy's look and turned toward the door. "Let's tell Harry that we're ready to start the next meeting."

"Very ready," muttered Pansy.

Ginny sighed. "Take your mind out of the gutter."

"Why?" asked Pansy innocently. "It likes it there and I meet the most interesting people."

Nocktooth took them to a much larger conference room for this meeting. All of Harry's allies would be there for this meeting, along with many representatives of various families that had agreements and debts with the Black family. Pansy recognized most of them. Very few of the head of any of the families that had business here were here, instead sending people empowered to act in their stead.

Harry sighed. "I was hoping to see some old friends at this meeting," he told Nicholas Sharpstar quietly.

Sharpstar looked at him. "Did you really think that any of the known Death Eaters would show up?"

Harry shrugged. "I was hoping. Some of them are going to get a lot of money when I break agreements that have stood for decades and I was hoping greed would override common sense."

Nicholas froze as another group of people came in. "He's trouble."

Harry looked at the group that had entered and were finding seats around the table. "Which one? None of them have Dark Marks."

"No, he's a more insidious evil. He's a solicitor, one that served as the council for more than half of the Death Eaters after the first Voldemort war ended." Nicholas was regarding one of the new people with disgust.

Harry followed his gaze to an older wizard and shivered. The man looked like an older version of Lucius Malfoy. "Who is that?"

"His name is Sasksis O'Cintrast. He's a cousin of Lucius Malfoy on the Malfoy side. He's been the perfect example of why Solicitors have a bad name for more than forty years."

Harry smiled slightly. "Can I assume that you don't like him?"

Nicholas was still staring at the other man. "Yes, Baron Potter," he said in a louder voice, that everyone could hear. "You can say that I don't like him. In fact, before they banned duelling to the death, he spent six years on the continent, avoiding my challenge. When he returned I challenged him to a duel and he refused. He said that it was because duelling is a barbaric tradition that should be banned, but I think it's because he's a coward."

Everyone fell silent as the other wizard coloured. He glared at Sharpstar for an instant and then his face went blank. "I hope that you can remember the law as well as you remember old grudges. I would hate to have this victory come because you were senile, or too wrapped up in the past to work today."

Sharpstar gave O'Cintrast cold smile. "I've forgotten everything I knew about the law. Of course, that still makes me twice the solicitor you ever were. The only cases you ever won were the ones you paid for." He turned to Harry and began talking about some of the things they would be doing later.

Nocktooth had been watching the exchange with interest. He regretted the end of the verbal sparring. Goblins love any kind of a fight and an intellectual fight was no different. "Wizard Potter, are you ready to begin?" Nocktooth was hoping to see more fighting quite soon.

"I am." Harry had been in Gringotts for nine hours now and he was beginning to get tired. He wasn't going to show that to these vultures though.

"We are gathered here today to witness the passing of a family to its new Head. Wizard Potter is the heir of Sirius Black, oldest son of the last Head of the family. Sirius Black is dead without claiming his place as Head of the family. Does anyone have a better claim than Harry Potter?"

"I am making a claim." The statement came from three separate voices. The goblin looked at the three people.

"State your name and reason for the claim. You first." Nocktooth pointed at an older Wizard.

"I am Gregory Hanson, representing Marcus Flint. My client is the current head of the cadet branch of the Black family with the closest blood ties to the Blacks. Since a blood tie is higher than a Godson, my client is the rightful Heir."

Nocktooth shook his head. "Closeness of blood ties doesn't apply in cases where there is a named Heir in a legal will. Your claim is denied." He motioned to a goblin standing by the door. "Escort Wizard Hanson out."

When the man was gone, Nocktooth turned his attention to the next claimant. "State your name and case."

"I am Perry Weatherbee, acting on behalf of the Ministry of Magic. Sirius Black was a criminal. His estate is forfeit to the Ministry under section four, paragraph three of the Criminal Act of 1678."

Nocktooth thought for a minute. "Sirius Black was not convicted of any crimes. His escape from Azkaban was the legal act of a man being wrongfully held in captivity. Since the confession of Peter Pettigrew cleared him of any wrongdoing, the Ministry's claim is denied."

Harry watched the Ministry stooge walk out and had to smile. There actually was a Weatherbee working for the Ministry. He wondered if Percy would enjoy the irony of it.

Nocktooth looked at the last claimant. "State your name and case."

"I am Sasksis O'Cintrast and I am here to represent Rudolphus Lestrange. He is the rightful Heir to the Black family." The Solicitor sneered at Harry and then turned his attention to the goblin. "Sirius Black was cast out of the Black family by his own mother. As such he cannot make a will that legally gives the Black fortune to anyone. Since Narcissa cannot have more children and her only offspring is a convicted criminal, her line cannot inherit. Andromeda Tonks was cast out, the same as Sirius Black. Her line may not inherit. Regulus Black died without offspring, ending the line. That only leaves one line to inherit, Bellatrix Black-Lestrange."

He smirked at Nicholas. "Bellatrix cannot, by the Black family rules inherit the family. Her husband would have taken the name and title. He is dead, however, along with his wife. Since her will left everything to him, and his will leaves everything to his brother, my client, I submit that Rudolphus Lestrange is the Heir."

Nocktooth frowned as he considered this claim. O'Cintrast smiled at Nicholas as he passed a stack of papers to the goblin. "Here is the notice that Mrs. Black printed in the paper about Sirius Black being cast out. Here is her will, reiterating the same wish. Here are the wills of Bellatrix and Rabastin Lestrange, clearly stating who should receive their fortunes."

Nocktooth studied the papers for a minute. "I will seek guidance on this." He put the papers in one of the goblin boxes with a note. He closed the lid and it flashed. "We will now wait for an answer, one way or the other."

_**OoOoOoO Grabhand and others, Gringotts, 31JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Grabhand frowned as his box lit up with an incoming message. He wasn't supposed to be disturbed. He smiled as he saw the matter that had come to him. Wizard Potter. The man was interesting and always had such intriguing ideas and problems. He began to study the documents that had come to him.

Five minutes later he sent off a message of his own and soon there were five goblins in his office. "The Lestrange family is attempting to claim the Black estate. We need a legal way to stop them." He handed papers out to each of the goblins and they started reading, switching papers when everyone had read the one they had.

One of the goblin looked up from reading. "Why is Gringotts so interested in Harry Potter? He's a child by their standards, just coming of age today."

Grabhand looked at Holdthumb and then at the goblin that had asked the question. "Harry Potter may be the Wizard we have been looking for."

The other three goblins looked at the two of them. "Are you certain?" asked one of them.

"Not yet. We are still examining the possibilities, and until this Voldemort person is taken care of, we will not openly back Potter. We will make his life a bit easier, as long as nothing can be traced back to us."

The goblins nodded and went back to their examination of the various documents. The goblin that had asked about Harry suddenly sat up. He read a section of the document he had and then asked for Bella's will. He looked at Grabhand. "I think you might find page three, section five interesting in the first parchment, if you look at Sirius Black's will and Bellatrix Lestrange's will."

Grabhand looked at the pages the other goblin pointed out. "This is excellent work. I will remember your name, Snatchear." Grabhand wrote out a short paragraph on a parchment and put it and the documents back in the box. It glowed and Grabhand stared at it for a minute. "Pity I can't find an immediate profit out of this."

Holdthumb sighed. "Instant profits are nice, but in the long run, if Wizard Potter is the person we seek, your name will be remembered forever and the gold will flow like water."

Grabhand looked at him. "Possibly. That is the hope. There is also the fear."

_**OoOoOoO Harry and the others, Gringotts, 31JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Everyone stared as the box flashed before Nocktooth. He took the documents out of the box and read the parchment on top. He looked up at the group. "The Black family rules clearly define the duties of the Patriarch and the Matriarch. The Matriarch may deny a family member the use of the family wealth and properties, but only the Patriarch may formally remove someone from the family. See page three, section five of the family rules. Since Sirius Black's father died before he had his disagreement with his mother, Sirius Black could not be removed from the Clan. His will is valid. Bellatrix Black died after Sirius Black. That means that her will is invalid. She cannot leave the Black estate to anyone. Your claim is denied."

Nicholas Sharpstar smiled thinly. "Point of law, Goblin Nocktooth. Since a member of the Black family died without a valid will, who is responsible for the distribution of that person's estate?"

Nocktooth didn't hesitate. "In the case of an old family, the family head reserves the right to distribute those things that were part of the family."

Sharpstar nodded. "Then I ask that Gringotts freeze all accounts that Bellatrix Black-Lestrange was party to, until a proper accounting is made. Since the head of the Black family has not taken over yet, that accounting will have to be delayed at least two weeks, so that the new head can investigate the accounts."

Nocktooth thought about it for a minute. "That is only fair. It will be done." He scribbled a note and placed it in the box. It only took a second for him to get an answer. "It is done."

Nicholas smirked at the other solicitor. "You shouldn't play in a court you can't buy. Why don't you run on home and leave the grown ups to do the real business?"

Sasksis O'Cintrast glared at Sharpstar. "You haven't heard the end of this."

He started out, only to be stopped by Neville standing up in front of him. "Tell your client that I am dying to meet him again, when I am not helpless."

Harry blinked. "In fact, Wizard O'Cintrast, you can tell him that I will be waiting for him to bring his family accounting, so that we can divide the estate of Bellatrix Black properly. Since I have to go over the accounts, I find it only right that the head of the Lestrange family assist me, so that we can have a fair and equal split."

Neville smiled again, looking at the light haired Solicitor. "Remind your client that as Wizard Potter has not had a fully magical upbringing, he may not know all of the intricacies of this. I feel that as his friend and fellow head of family, I should be there to iron out any difficulties."

The Solicitor glared at them. "You think you'll get away with this? This day's work is going to cost someone more than you're willing to pay."

Harry's eyes blazed as he stood. "Wizard O'Cintrast. I find your manner and words offensive. Leave, before I challenge you to a duel." Harry started toward the older Wizard, who paled and rushed for the door. Harry watched him leave and turned to the goblin. "I apologize for the craven display of cowardice from a human. Please, do not judge us all by him."

Nocktooth just looked at Harry. "We at Gringotts have had dealings with him before. He has never had the intestinal fortitude of a Flobber worm."

Nocktooth looked around. "Are there any further challenges to Wizard Potter's assuming the mantle of Patriarch of the Ancient and Noble House of Black?" Nobody said anything and he turned to Harry. "Wizard Potter, while you have assumed the mantle of Baron Potter and Lord Black today, you do not hold those titles as yet. Before you will hold those titles, you must confirm your fealty and loyalty to the Queen of England. You will find an address in the paperwork that I give you. It is your duty to send an owl and inform the Queen of the assumption of titles. You will be told when and where you are to go to give your oaths."

Harry blinked, staring at Nocktooth. "I have to meet the Queen?" Harry had grown up a simple Muggle and the thought of meeting the Queen was as far from his experience as the thought of flying to the moon. Normal people may see the Queen, during an event, but they very rarely met her face to face.

"Unless you're not going to keep your titles. Then they will lapse, and the holdings of the titles will be open for the Queen to reassign as she sees fit."

Narcissa looked at Harry. "I will instruct my lord in the proper protocols." She smiled. "After all, you did promise me that I could live in my home and if the Queen gives the holdings to another, I can't do that."

Harry sighed. "That's a topic for another day. Let's get this meeting over with right now."

Nocktooth looked at Harry. "Wizard Potter, you have the Histories, debts, accounts and agreements of your family. Will there be any changes?"

Harry sighed. "Many." Hermione was passing him a thick stack of papers and parchment. "First, the following people are adopted into the family." Harry passed the papers over. "The agreements between the Crabbes, Goyles, Malfoys, Lestranges, and the Blacks are ended and the Black family will pay the two thousand Galleon penalty for ending those agreements. I am also ending agreements between the Black family and the following families. Diggle, Marrison, Starr and Stannison. Those people are welcome to file a complaint about me ending the agreements in any court. I would not recommend that they do so, but it is their right."

Nocktooth looked at the agreements that Harry was ending with those four families. No, going into a court and admitting that you had agreed to kill Muggleborn Witches and Wizards before they were old enough to attend Hogwarts would not be good for them.

Harry continued. "The Black family has agreed to accept the leadership of a new clan, built under these general rules and subject to modification by a majority of the family heads involved." Harry passed along the paperwork.

"Last, Miranda Riddle-Black is my heir, until such time as there is an heir of my blood and shall remain a cadet branch as long as her line remains within the guidelines of the family and clan."

Miranda, like Pansy and Hermione, had not been warned about her sudden elevation and her eyes widened. She managed to keep quiet, but Harry knew that he'd be answering some tough questions later.

It took nearly four hours to finish all of the paperwork and by the time they were done, Harry was more than ready to drink the energizing potion Hermione had ready for everyone. He made a face as he finished it. "Does any potion actually taste good?"

Hermione looked at him. "Of course not. The average house has a dozen or more potions in their medicine cabinet and they taste bad so that small children don't drink them."

Harry blinked. "You mean they're supposed to taste disgusting for a reason? A logical reason, at that?"

Hermione smiled at him. "I know. It took me three days to get over it, when I found out that the Wizard world did something logically."

Augusta Longbottom sighed. "If you would get over your biases, children, you might found out that we do a good many things for logical reasons, even if you have to understand the magical reasons for it."

Harry and Hermione blushed. "Sorry," Harry apologized, "but we've seen so many things that don't make logical sense that we began to think Wizards don't use logic."

Hermione was consulting her list. "We've left the Leaky Cauldron. In a few minutes, we can go back and have lunch with Mr. Robards and Rita Skeeter, and then go to the Ministry to inform them of your new status."

_**OoOoOoO Harry and crew, The Leaky Cauldron, 31JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

"How do you wish to be addressed, Wizard Potter?" had been Rita's first question.

Harry considered it. "Informally, like now, Wizard Potter or variants is fine. When I am being formal, it will depend on what capacity I am working in."

Rita nodded. "You have assumed the responsibility for four houses today, Wizard Potter, including their fortunes. What will you do now?"

Harry took a bite of his lunch while he thought about the question. "As you know, I have a small problem with the current dark lord. I will be working on a way to abate that nuisance and going to Hogwarts. I do have NEWTs this year. Other than that, I am going to be spending a great deal of time learning about Wizard culture and the rules that govern them. Since I have a position in the Wizengamot, I should know something about the governing body."

Rita sighed and looked at Hermione and Pansy. "You two have really been working on him, haven't you?"

Hermione shook her head. "Harry listens to us, but his answers are his own. He wouldn't even let us write a press release for the papers. He said that honesty is the only way to go when talking to people, and pre-written papers were not completely honest."

Harry nodded. "When you write it in advance, there is too much chance of shading things to say what you think the people you are writing for want to hear. I would prefer not to lie to people. They got enough of that from the previous Minister and the Daily Prophet."

Rita winced. "I'm going to leave that last bit out, Mr. Potter. I do want to keep my job."

DMLE Head Gawain Robards was listening to them. Harry looked at him. "I thought you would have a few questions of your own, Mr. Robards."

"I do, but not as many as you would think. I have been researching your families and have a very good idea of just what you're doing. I do have to ask, what did you do with the Malfoy estate and name?"

Harry grinned. "In return for certain promises and agreements, I gave it away to the people that needed it the most. I accepted the family, adopted two people and stepped down as the head of the family. They are in my Clan, and will have to remain within certain guidelines I set down, but they are the new Malfoys, for intents and purposes."

Gawain Robards looked at the smirks of the young people surrounding him. "This will give the old Malfoys nightmares, won't it?"

Harry smiled. "I can only hope so. The new head of the Malfoy family is Colin Creevy-Malfoy and Dennis Creevy-Malfoy is the only other member of the family right now."

Mr. Robards blinked and then choked on his drink. "You gave the Malfoy name to a pair of Muggleborn kids?"

Harry nodded happily. "Yes. They have been very helpful this summer and Colin has promised to stop stalking me with his camera, and that was well worth the Malfoy name, I think."

"I know you've been using Colin for taking pictures of Death Eater defeats this summer, but what has Dennis been doing? I haven't seen him in any of the battles." Gawain Robards was mildly curious about that. None of his intelligence had said anything about Dennis Creevy. Harry was apparently hiding something from everyone.

"He's rather excitable, too much so to be in the fighting, but he does have a careful and methodical approach to things, if you can keep him calm. He's cataloguing the various libraries I have control over now and creating one consolidated library for the Potter manor."

Harry didn't bother mentioning that Dennis was also setting aside any book he found that was cursed or Dark, for the Horcrux hunters to deal with. Harry didn't think the head of the DMLE needed to know just how many evil items he'd gotten with the Black and Malfoy estates.

Lunch passed far too quickly for Harry, even with Rita's questions. All too soon, Hermione was looking at her watch and telling him they had to be going.

Harry sighed, but he got up and said goodbye to everyone that was not going with them on the next trip. Pansy and Ginny were going to the Bludger to write up the paper's version of what Harry was doing today, and only Harry, Hermione and Miranda were going to the Ministry to register the new Clan and Harry's assumption of the family titles.

They were all going to meet the other people that would be joining them for the meeting at the Wizengamot scheduled for this afternoon, when Harry would appoint his proxies for the seats he controlled and have the Wizengamot charms applied to the rings the proxies had chosen. Normally, the Head of Family rings would have the charms on them, but since only Harry could wear those rings, the proxies had chosen different rings.

Augusta Longbottom looked at Harry as she got ready to leave. "I know why you gave the Malfoy name to those two boys, Harry, but I wish you had given me more time to teach them about the Wizard traditions."

Harry smiled at her. "I am sorry about that, but the Creeveys have been useful and they will be good people."

Augusta gave him a sour look. "Good people, yes. However, they are also very..."

"Excitable?" Harry suggested with a grin.

"I suppose you could put it like that." Augusta said. "Now, if you will excuse me, my Lord, I have to give them a lesson on the Wizengamot for this afternoon's meeting."

Harry nodded. "I'll be making arraignments to continue my lessons as well. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to meet you this year, but I will be owling you regularly."

Augusta nodded. "I will be waiting."

"Mrs. Longbottom," Harry said more seriously, "I want to thank you for everything you have done for me and the House of Potter. It will be written and remembered."

Augusta flushed. "Thank you, Baron Potter." Written and remembered was a Pureblood custom, having to do with the Family Histories. If a person or Family did something, good or bad, to or for a Family, it was recorded, so that every member of the family would remember it.

The family histories that Harry had been reading for the last three weeks were full of things like that. The Potter histories had many examples of it, and he was still trying to read the Black histories. The Potter line was almost eight hundred years old, but that was nothing, compared to the Black histories. The Blacks had earned the "Ancient and Noble" title honestly, having been awarded their Lordship in 924 AD. Harry sighed. The family had come down considerably since the first Black had been ennobled for "bravery and gallantry on the field of battle".

He shook those thoughts off as he approached the Ministry. Right now, he had to concentrate. The forms in the Ministry wouldn't be a problem but Harry was expecting the Minister to show up and have something to say or talk about. What the Minister would want was a hot topic for discussion, but no one knew what he would want or what he would offer.

Harry approached the guard and handed over his wand. "Baron Potter, here to visit the forms and records office."

The Auror on duty smiled at Harry. "Welcome to the Ministry, Baron. Here's your badge. Do you need a guide?" She saw Hermione behind Harry. "Never mind. How are you, Miss. Granger? Will you be wanting your normal badge?"

Harry looked at Hermione. "Just how often have you been here?"

Hermione frowned. "Too often. The red tape and forms you have to deal with are a pain, and I have to record how many Portkeys I make each week." She smiled at the Auror. "Hello, Auror Fitzgerald. I'm with Baron Potter today, and I need to change my honorific. I am Miss Granger-Black now."

The Auror nodded and handed Hermione her wand and a badge after tapping it with her wand.

She handed Miranda a badge as well, without a word. Harry looked at his badge. "Baron Potter, Forms and Records." Hermione's badge had the same thing written it, but Miranda's badge simply read "Defender". Harry shook his head. The way the Wizard world acted around Defenders was just weird.

Miranda saw his look. "Lord Black, the Order of Defenders has certain privileges, but we have rules as well."

Hermione led the way to the lift. They got in and Hermione pressed the button for the second floor. As the door opened and they started to leave, Dolores Umbridge was waiting for the lift. Harry tensed, but didn't say anything as Hermione laid a hand on his arm.

Umbridge was about to say something when she saw Harry's badge. Her face went from shock to disgust to calculation in seconds. "Baron Potter, I have to apologize for my previous actions. I was merely following orders. I'm sure a traditional person such as your noble self will understand that order must be maintained."

Harry's magic was beginning to manifest as he looked at the Witch that had made his sixth year one of the worst years he'd had. "I do understand that order must be maintained," he said tightly. "And I am certain that you understand that the old traditions must be upheld as well. Including vengeance. The Potter and Black families have a long history of vengeance. If you are still in Britain in forty-eight hours, I will have my vengeance."

Dolores Umbridge stared at Harry. "You can't threaten me, I'm the Under-secretary for the Minister."

Harry smirked. "And I am the only person that can kill Voldemort. Which title will the Wizard world consider more important, I wonder?"

Dolores Umbridge paled and rushed into the lift without another word. Harry smirked at her until the lift closed. He looked at Hermione. "Which way, Lady Black?"

Hermione frowned at him. "I thought you were going to bring the Wizard world forward, Harry, not regress to a barbarian yourself," she said tartly as she led him down the hallway.

Harry grinned. "If you believed me, then she did. Good. I want her to sweat, wondering what I'm going to do."

Hermione stared at him for a second and then smiled. "This is the same thing you did to the Dursleys, isn't it? Psychological intimidation."

Harry nodded. "I will make sure that she cannot hurt other children, but that is as far as I am willing to go for her. She's not a Death Eater, merely a Pureblood bigot. It will be worse for her to watch us change the world and be powerless to stop us than anything else we could do to her."

Hermione stopped and hugged Harry. He hugged her back and kissed her gently. "I love you, Harry, but I wish you'd let me know when you're going to do this. It makes me nervous."

Harry reached up and stroked her face with his hand. "I love you, too." Harry's eyes were soft and warm and Hermione blushed. She hugged Harry again and started down the hallway with Harry's hand in hers.

Miranda watched the hallway, ignoring the two of them in their private minute. She was the first to see the three people that came around the corner. The Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimageour, Percy Weasley and someone she didn't recognize were coming toward them. Harry and Hermione saw them a second later and Harry stepped up in front of Hermione.

"Baron Potter, may I have a minute of your time?" asked the Minister formally.

Harry looked at him for a second. "Of course, Minister."

Percy opened a door and looked inside. "This room is empty, Minister."

Hermione and Harry waited as Miranda checked the room. When she nodded they entered. The stranger stayed outside the room and Miranda positioned herself to watch the people inside and the door. Harry looked at the Minister. "What can the House of Potter do for you, Minister?"

"Baron, you have done great things for us in the last few months. I have no problem with anything you have done. I admire it, in fact."

Harry looked at him. "Thank you, Minister, however, I hear a 'but' in there somewhere."

"Baron Potter, you have to know that I am on very shaky ground, politically. What you may not know is how that affects you. As I said, I agree with what you're doing. If the next Minister doesn't agree with your actions, he can stop you."

Harry tilted his head. "How? I am not in the Ministry, nor am I violating any laws."

Percy looked up. "Actually, Baron Potter, while your previous actions have not violated any laws, if you continue with your present course, they will. In 1142, the Ministry of Magic, under pressure from the Royal family, passed a law disallowing privately held troops. Your fighters will fall under that law now that you are assuming the Head of House positions."

Harry and Hermione looked at each other. Harry turned to the Minister. "I assume you have something that will allow me to carry the war forward."

"I do. It would mean that you can carry on as you have been, but you would have to become a part of the Ministry, under my command. That wouldn't mean much, as I think you're doing well, but the appearance of cooperation between us would help me."

Harry frowned. "I would like a few details, please."

The Minister gave him a surprisingly boyish grin. "How would you like to be the first Commander of the Department of Magical Warfare since the last Goblin War?"

_**OoOoOoO Harry and various others, the Wizengamot chambers, 31JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry looked around. Besides himself and Neville Longbottom, both of whom were here to present themselves to the Wizengamot to be seated, there were dozens of people here. Augusta Longbottom was going to relinquish the Longbottom seat and assume the Malfoy seat until Colin was of age in a year or so.

Colin was here, Rita was sitting next to Luna and a reporter from the Bludger. Judging from the look on Rita's face, Luna was being her normal self.

All of the heads of family from the new Clan were here along with twenty or thirty other people that Harry recognized. Nicholas Sharpstar looked at Harry and watched him looking around. "Everyone we needed is here, Baron Potter. The law was passed in this morning's session and everything is in place."

Hermione, Pansy and Ginny grinned. Harry's plan was reaching its climax and the Death Eaters wouldn't know what hit them. Harry had used Nicholas to get two new laws passed in the Wizengamot. The first was a simple amendment to an existing law. It would require that any person sent to Azkaban be tried and that Veritaserum be used to confirm their crimes.

It was the second law that had been passed that Harry and the others here today would be using.

"Wizards and Witches of the Wizengamot, be seated. This session of the Wizengamot is now in session." The Wizard that spoke was named Markus Inkee and Harry liked what he knew about the man. He was one of the few neutrals in the Wizengamot, and highly respected by everyone, which is how he had become the Supreme Mugwump after Professor Dumbledore's death.

"Wizards and Witches of the Wizengamot, today's session will see the seating of several new members of the Wizengamot. Some of them will be filling seats not used in years and we should welcome them."

Harry sat patiently as the formalities concluded. The Wizengamot, like most political bodies, had many traditions and customs that they followed. Harry was still learning them all, but all of his people had been briefed on the time this meeting would take and they were willing to wait. The pay-off today was worth any amount of waiting.

Harry watched as the Wizengamot started confirming the proxies and seats. Mr. Blount, from the Windenmere families was Harry's proxie for the Black seat, while Mr. Weasley sat in the Montrose seat until Harry or Blaise finished Hogwarts. Harry was watching Blaise closely and he was still considering giving the family to Blaise and Daphne if the family ghosts would transfer the family obligation to Blaise and Daphne.

Neville took his seat and Augusta assumed the Malfoy seat. Nicholas Sharpstar would continue in the Potter seat until Harry left Hogwarts.

After all of the proxies were confirmed, Harry stood up. "Wizards and Witches of the Wizengamot, I would speak to you. May I be heard?"

Markus Inkee thought about it for a second. "Of course, Lord Black." By Wizengamot tradition, a Wizard was always addressed by his highest title in the chamber.

"I am not speaking to you today as Lord Black, Sir, but as Harry Potter. This morning, the Wizengamot passed a law to allow any person wronged by another Wizard to claim some share of that person's estate as compensation for their wrongs. I claim the total holdings of the being known as Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort, and You-Know-Who as compensation for the deaths of my parents, Sirius Black, my godfather, and all the other people I have lost to him."

The Wizengamot erupted into talk and Harry raised his voice. "I lay claim to those things, but I do not want them. I want to them to go to the ministry, to help all the people that have suffered as a result of Voldemort's actions."

Markus Inkee restored order after a minute. "Lord Black, this claim is undeniable, but as far as anyone knows, that person has no assets for you to claim."

"He has one thing, and I would claim that, to sever his last tie with anything. Tom Riddle was named after his Muggle father, but his mother was the last of the Gaunts, the last of the Salazar Slytherin lines in direct descent. I would claim his name, and give it to a Slytherin, one that embodies the essence of what Salazar Slytherin wanted for his house."

Harry stood waiting patiently for the Wizengamot to quiet down after that statement. "Mr. Potter, this is not a matter to be taken lightly. I assume you have a candidate in mind."

"I do. This person has shown remarkable ambition and a desire to improve her lot in life, without joining Voldemort or being Dark. She is intelligent and strong-willed. According to my sources in Slytherin, she has managed to change her house ranking from ninety-fourth to twelvth, as high as you could get without being one of Malfoy's cronies, and she did it all without anyone even noticing her, except when she needed a bit of recognition. She has, in all ways, shown the qualities of a true heir of Slytherin."

Markus frowned thoughtfully. "This person you speak of, Lord Black, does she have a name?"

"Sally Ann Perks. She is a seventh year student in Hogwarts. She is a Slytherin." He turned and pointed to a young girl sitting near the door. "And she is here for you to question."

Sally Ann Perks stood up. "Wizards and Witches of the Wizengamot, I was rather surprised that Harry Potter would come to me for this. I was the person directly before him during our sorting, but until last week, I don't think we ever even spoke. He came to me last week and convinced me that of all the people in Slytherin House, I had the best chance of restoring the Honour of the house and the great name of Salazar Slytherin."

Harry and the others watched as the Wizengamot questioned Sally Anne about her desires and her plans for the future. For more than an hour they grilled her, asking her dozens of questions. Finally, they ran out of questions. Supreme Mugwump Inkee looked at her. "This will not be an easy decision, Witch Perks. We shall debate it and vote on it after we have finished the other business before the Wizengamot."

Harry stood up again. "I will await your answer to my request. For now, I wish to sponsor several other people who have similar requests of the Wizengamot."

Markus Inkee looked at Harry. "How many petitions do you have, Lord Black?"

Harry looked at his list. "Susan Bones, requesting an amount from the Crabbes for the death of her aunt. Her parents, the same. Neville Longbottom, the Lestrange estate for the loss of his parents. Hermione Granger-Black, claiming a settlement from Antonin Dolohov for attempting to kill her." Harry looked at the list. "There are a dozen more, but I will simply give you the list. I have several other appointments today. Nicholas Sharpstar will stay and conduct business in my name." Harry passed the sheet to Markus Inkee. "I also have need of many of the claimants. Here are their depositions, agreements to abide by the decisions of the Wizengamot, and the temporary right to vote a seat from the twelve heads of family that have seats in my Clan. Apparently, they wish to meet with me about something tonight and we have to go."

Inkee looked at the paperwork Harry passed him. "Nicholas Sharpstar has control of four council seats and eight Wizengamot seats for the votes on reparations." He looked up at Harry. "That is a good many votes for a new Clan, Lord Black. Why do I think that we have seen the emergence of a new power bloc in the Wizengamot today?"

Harry smiled. "Not a bloc, Wizard Inkee. We are merely together for this vote. In future votes, every family head will vote the way they believe. This time we think alike. Next time, who knows?"

Harry bowed to the Wizengamot. "I really must be going. Good day, Wizards and Witches."

_**OoOoOoO Harry and the girls, Madame Malkin's, 31JUL97. OoOoOoO**_

"Lord Black, if you stand still for a minute, this will be over with much faster and then you may ogle the ladies all you want." Madame Malkin sounded irritable and Miranda smiled inside. She never let any of it show, however.

Harry blushed and tried to stand still. The three girls were in different changing rooms and taking turns coming out dressed in robes that made Harry pay attention. He was fairly certain that Pansy's 'too loose' dress had been an excuse to flash him 'accidentally' in front of everyone. Harry was also certain that they had planned this, as they took dressing rooms in widely separated areas, forcing him to turn to see each of them as they came out to show him whatever they were wearing.

Hermione was blushing as she looked at the outfit she was wearing. It wasn't risqué, by Muggle standards, but she'd long ago figured out that Wizards were at least a hundred and twenty-five years behind Muggles in fashions. Women in the Wizard world covered everything from the shoulders to the ankles and nothing was form-fitting except swimwear.

This was a simple pair of jeans and a spaghetti-string strap blouse. The jeans were a bit tighter than Hermione normally wore. She sighed as she started wiggling out of them. OK, so they were tighter than anything she'd ever worn and the forest green top was silk and also tighter than anything she'd normally buy. The look on Harry's face had convinced her that Pansy had been right though. He had been startled at first, and then his eyes had swept over her as if he wanted to memorize every line of her body. She had nearly felt the desire and love he'd been showing. Hermione smiled wryly as she finished changing. Given his Aestuomagius ability, she might well have been feeling it.

Over the last few weeks as Miranda and Moody had trained him, Harry had been learning to harness his power. Well, sort of. By its very nature Harry's power was not a controlled skill. It was emotionally driven and grew more powerful with stronger emotions. Strong emotions, however, are not easily controlled.

Harry's Aestuomagius abilities were the only thing that weren't working out to some sort of schedule. The Windenmere group's researchers had examined and re-examined every memory of Professor Dumbledore's. From those memories and the knowledge of Voldemort that the people that had been in his camp had, they had deduced the location of most of the Horcruxes. They had found all but three now. They had a couple of ideas about destroying them, but they were looking into other methods, hoping to find one that did not include a high level of danger for the person destroying it.

The last three were going to be difficult. One of them was in Nagini, or was the snake, they weren't sure of that yet. They needed the snake to be certain. The second one was in Hogwarts and that was Hermione's job this year, to figure out where and what it was.

The third was the biggest puzzle. They still hadn't found it, or even a clue as to what or where it was.

Hermione changed into her robes and stepped out of the changing room. Harry was standing near Miranda and Hermione smiled at him. The other two were still in their changing rooms and Hermione crossed to Harry. He smiled at her, his eyes softening in the way they always did. He held out his hand and Hermione took it. They waited for the other two. Ginny came out first and claimed Harry's other hand.

Pansy came out and saw the three of them standing there waiting for her. She started to say something but Hermione cleared her throat. Pansy's eyes went to her and she went to stand next to Hermione, taking her hand.

Harry stopped and looked at the three girls. "What's next on the agenda, Hermione?"

Hermione smiled. "Just one last stop, Harry." Hermione handed the ends of a Portkey around and everyone took a grip on it. Harry was just asking where it would take them when he felt the familiar tug behind his navel.

Harry and the girls landed in a dark place. Harry tried to get up but Ginny and Pansy started kissing him. He vaguely heard Hermione saying, "We must be early. I'll find the light switch."

He pulled his lips away from Ginny long enough to say, "I'll be here." Pansy claimed his lips then and Harry was only too willing to let her.

The lights came on and as they did lots of people shouted. "Surprise!"

Harry jumped, but the two girls with him were wrapped around him, and he couldn't react before what they'd said made it into his brain. He looked around. All of his friends and a lot of the Windenmeres he'd met over the summer were here and all of them were smiling at him.

The two girls got up and helped Harry up. He looked at them. "This was Hermione's idea, wasn't it?"

"Actually, the surprise party was Ginny's idea. I suggested the way to hide it from and Hermione came up with a way to keep you from attacking everyone when they surprised you," Pansy said.

Harry grinned as the Weasleys closed in and Molly attempted to compress his ribs. Hermione and the rest soon had him in a party mood. The next four hours were a happy blur of food, fun and gifts. Violet Potter spent most of the evening wrapped around Harry's arm, tugging him around.

Harry was surprised to find Millicent Bulstrode there. She nodded to him. "I came to see Violet. We spent the day together." Millicent looked at Violet, who had let go of Harry to hold her sister's hand. "I owe you for protecting Violet."

Harry nodded. "I need someone to watch over Pansy and help her get all the Slytherins that don't want to follow Voldemort together. Blaise and Daphne will be helping as well."

Millicent thought about it. "Between the three of them, they know almost everything that goes on in Slytherin. They have more status, more money and more intelligence. What do you need me for?"

Harry cocked his head as he looked at her. "Not for muscle. That was Malfoy's thing. I want someone who they can trust, that will help them."

Millicent looked down at Harry and then down at Violet. "Deal."

Harry smiled. "How come you didn't join the escape?"

Millicent shrugged. "Potter, look at me. I'm nearly two meters tall and stronger than most of the guys in Slytherin. I did not inherit the beauty of my mother, but the size of my father. Without the Dark Lord ordering someone, what are my chances of marrying someone with a brain and who looks decent?"

Harry looked at her. "That depends on what you want. If you get involved with people that look beyond physical features and size, you might be surprised. The Hufflepuffs are good at that." He watched her for a minute. "Why do you say they have more intelligence? You don't seem to to like Crabbe or Goyle to me."

"Thank you for that, Potter. I am not that bad, but I know my limits. Like Weasley, I follow the people that think better than I do. I have my talents and skills, but intense thinking isn't one of them."

"It was never mine, either, but I am learning." Ron Weasley had come up behind them. "If you like, I'll help you with some things I have learned. Mental discipline type things."

Millicent stared at Ron. "Learning indeed," she said dryly, "if you're willing to help a Slytherin."

Ron winced. "I have had a few lessons recently. One of them has been on the stupidity of believing in stereotypes."

Harry smiled. "You better be careful, Ron. If you change too much, the Sorting Hat may decide you're a Hufflepuff."

Ron stared at Harry and then smirked. "Whatever you say, O fearless Slytherin's child."

Millicent was watching them. "Gryffindors with a sense of humour. Will wonders never cease."

"Gryffindors have many hidden talents, but Harry is not really a Gryffindor." The three of them turned to find Luna and Neville standing there. "Harry is more a student of Hogwarts than a member of a house."

Neville was standing close to Luna, not quite touching her, but very close. Harry looked at them and and smiled. He could feel something there, something he'd felt from other couples he'd been around this summer. "Hello, Luna, Neville." He looked at Luna, remembering something she'd said about him once. "Have you and Neville been playing with an Amoreati?"

Luna smiled but shook her head. "I haven't been able to find one. All we've been doing is..."

Neville was blushing furiously as he held his hand over Luna's mouth. "They don't want details, Luna." He looked at Harry and Ron, who had broad smiles as they watched the two of them. "Luna and I are exploring a more intimate relationship."

Harry smirked. "Mr. Longbottom, are you doing something I should know about with one of the female members of my clan?"

Neville blushed again. He let Luna go. "Actually, Harry, you should be trying to protect Neville from me. I led him on until he had no choice but to seduce me."

Neville looked as if he would like to sink into the floor. None of them noticed the crowd gathering around. "I did not seduce you," Neville whispered, "You crawled into my bed in the middle of the night."

"I had to, your aura wanted me there." She smiled at Neville. "It's OK though. I've gotten used to your size."

Harry and Ron looked at each other. This was more than they wanted to know about Neville and Luna. It was not all they were going to learn though. "I say, Gred, what ever happened after we left formal education? These young people seem to hiding things."

"I agree Forge. Whatever could Neville have been hiding all this time?" The four of them looked up to see most of their friends standing around.

George's question had been a wisecrack, but Luna took it literally. "About twenty-three centimetres normally, but when he's happy to see me, it's exactly thirty centimetres. I measured it."

Everyone in the group turned to look at Neville, who was banging his head against a wall. Luna stepped up to him. "You'll never dislodge a Fuzzy Snax that way." Luna kissed Neville, taking her time and making a few of the girls sigh as Neville responded.

She let go of him and looked at him. "Is it gone yet?"

Neville looked down at her and smiled softly. "Yes, Luna."

She smiled. "Let's make our goodbyes to the host and Harry, Neville. I have an urge to explore."

Neville looked up at the group. "Wonderful party, Harry, but Luna wishes to go. Happy birthday." He said the last bit over his shoulder as Luna headed for the door with his hand firmly gripped in hers.

Harry smiled as they left. "Neville will be good for her. She's a nice girl."

Ron sighed. "You do realize that he'll be perpetually confused by what she does, don't you?"

Harry looked at his ladies. "And that makes him different from any other male?"

"Before this becomes a conversation that has several men sleeping on sofas, let's move along, shall we?"

Katie, who had spoken, pulled the girls off for a conversation that involved a lot of whispering, giggling and looks at various men.

"You ever wonder what they discuss in those conversations?" Ron was watching the girls as Harry and he stood there chatting.

"Of course. I've never been brave enough to try and eavesdrop though."

"And you shouldn't, Lord Black. Some things are meant to remain a mystery. Would you be as happy with your ladies, if you knew everything they thought?" Augusta Longbottom was standing next to them.

Harry thought about it for a minute. "I don't know. I do know that I wish this was all over, so that I could spend a hundred years or so trying to figure them out."

Conversation turned to most general topics and the party was winding down when Shacklebolt came in and looked around. Spotting Harry, he started toward him. Harry saw him come in and frowned. Shacklebolt didn't look happy. "Har." he started and stopped. "Pardon me. Baron Potter." He stopped again as Harry held up a hand.

"I know about the formalities, but here and in any home I own, you and all the members of my nameless Order can drop that. To the people I fight with, I'm just Harry in private."

Shacklebolt nodded. "Harry, the London police responded to a call earlier. A man was shambling drunkenly down a road. They investigated and the man refused to follow orders and stop. They came closer and he attacked them. He killed one of them and they shot him dozens of times before he fell."

Harry blinked. "Dozens? How is that possible?"

Shacklebolt sighed. "He'd been dead for a week or more."

Harry frowned. "An Inferi, then."

"That's not all. He was somebody we knew. It was Pettigrew."

Harry sighed. "I guess he was wrong about his importance to Voldemort."

Shacklebolt nodded. "I started doing some checking after I heard about this. The Obliviators have been busy this week, Harry. That was the third Inferi that was seen, and there have been five vampire victims that Muggles have seen. If you add those to the ones Wizards found, the local vampires have left a body out every night since your meeting with Voldemort."

Harry frowned. "Voldemort has allied with them, is what you're saying."

Shacklebolt nodded. "It looks that way. I've started looking for them, but they're very good at hiding."

Harry frowned. "Make sure you're at the Order meeting tomorrow. I'll be taking everyone to Potter Manor for it, after Dobby and Winky have made sure it's ready for visitors. We have a lot to talk about. The Minister changed things dramatically this morning."

Harry turned to Ron. "Do your people know about this yet?"

Ron shrugged. "I don't know. They haven't said anything to me about it."

Harry was about to say something else when he was confronted with three sets of irate eyes. "Harry, this is a party. You will save your planning for after the party. Otherwise, those of us that planned it might think you don't appreciate the party or us."

Shacklebolt coughed. "Happy birthday, Harry. I'll see you tomorrow." He headed off in the direction of the buffet.

Ron just smiled and started the same way. "Good luck, Harry."

Harry was left with Hermione, Pansy and Ginny staring at him. He smiled. "I apologize. Since I have offended the three of you, I assume you want me to make it up to you. How can I do that?"

The three of them looked at each other and them smiled at Harry. "Dancing," they chorused.

_**OoOoOoO The Author, Here and Now. OoOoOoO **_

_Harry's had his last good day this summer. I hope he enjoyed it. Shacklebolt's investigations are about to turn up a few things that are going to ramp up the tension a level and the full moon is just two days away._


	13. Blood and Death

_It is the first of August and Harry will have a decent week, at first. We are entering the endgame of this story. After this chapter, there will be just three more chapters and an the Epilogue. (Which hopefully, I can do a better job on than some I have read.)_

_Violence Warning: This chapter will have death, violence and blood as Voldemort's plans start coming together. These fights have been planned for sometime and unlike some other authors, nobody that dies in this chapter will die for no reason. They will die however. At least one will be a major character._

_Disclaimer: I am neither British nor a mother, nor do I have money flowing like water. On the bright side, since I didn't create Harry Potter, Voldemort or the Wizard World, I can walk down a street and not be mugged by fans, nor do I have to have guards to insure my family is not kidnapped. Nor do I have the shame of having to say I wrote the epilogue at the end of book seven. All in all, I like my life and JKR can keep the fame and money. I get nothing from this but the enjoyment of writing, a reward worth more to me than any amount of money._

_**Harry Potter and the Shades of Grey**_

_**Chapter Thirteen**_

_**Blood and Death**_

_**OoOoOoO Harry and Blaise, Potter Manor, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

Harry stared at the gates that guarded Potter manor. Tonight, for the first time, he would sleep in a place that was his. Not a place that belonged to one of his families, but his. He smiled at the thought. Blaise and Daphne waited patiently nearby. They had the job of keeping Harry busy until two, when Hermione, Pansy and Ginny would be finished with the Dursleys. They regretted missing the vengeance party, but they had drawn the short straws.

He turned, looking out over the valley. The Potter ancestral home stood at the crest of a small hill and looked out over a lush valley. At the far end of the valley stood Godric's Hollow and the home that James and Lily had used in preference to the manor.

According to the Potter Histories, the manor had been built when the Potters had more than a hundred family members and it had been capable of holding them all for celebrations and important meetings. It had an entire floor of bedrooms and six other floors, built in a time when labour was cheap and bigger was better. Having magic to help built and maintain the manor had helped as well. The entire thing was over twenty thousand square metres which was far too large for anyone that didn't have Weasley style families, so James and Lily had closed it up and lived in the smaller home at the other end of Godric's Hollow.

He turned his back on Godric's Hollow and the house he would have to deal with one day. It was still there, according to the paperwork that had come with the inheritance and still the same as the day Voldemort had attacked. That would have to be changed.

That was for another day, though. He was here to open the Potter home again. He walked up to the gate and laid his hand, the one with the Potter signet on it, on the gate, directly over the Potter seal. "I am Harry James Potter, the Head of this House, and I command you to open."

The papers that had described how he could find the manor had explained how to open the house and property and Harry waited. After a second, the seal began to glow, a glow answered by the signet ring on his hand. They glowed for a few seconds and then stopped.

The massive gates swung open and Harry had his first view of the manor. It had been built in the mid sixteen hundreds and looked it. It was a massive castle complete with a moat and drawbridge. The castle looked as if it had been abandoned for years, with wild growths where the gardens used to be and a thick layer of green things growing on the water flowing sluggishly in the moat. Harry knew from the histories that it had been attacked twice and besieged once, but had never fallen yet. He started towards the house and stopped again as more than a dozen house elves popped up and stood before him. Most of them looked younger. The one in front, though, was wrinkled and bent with age.

He stepped forward. "I brings the new elfs, Master Potter. These is the ones not spoken for, that know not a bonding. If the Master would just accept them, we will be away."

Harry looked at the old elf. He held up his hand. "Dobby," he called. Dobby appeared a second later. "Dobby, inform these elves of the rules under which I bond an elf." He turned to look at the old elf. Harry had been expecting this, as the Potter histories had mentioned the house elves of the family. "What is your name?"

"I is Boody, Master Potter. Is you changing the rules of the elfs?" The old elf looked disturbed.

Harry knelt before him, looking at him eye to eye. "I am. It may be new, Boody, but Dobby and Winky, who are bound to me under those rules will explain everything, and I have much for any elf to do."

The old elf sighed. "Always the Potter Masters change things. Boody wishes the Masters would make up their minds."

Dobby looked at the old elf. "Harry Potter Sir has good rules. He is not fond of the Master word though. I cannot convince him that it is the only proper form of address for the Potter Sir."

Dobby and the old elf stared at each other for a few seconds and the old elf nodded. "I will instruct the new elfs, and bring them back when it is done. Then I will tell the others."

The elves disappeared and Dobby looked at Harry. "The ladies are doing well, but Dobby will get back. Many people are are at their little party. Winky cannot do it all herself."

Harry looked at him. "Dobby, there is nothing going on there that I should know about, is there?"

Dobby looked at Harry. "Harry Potter Sir, Dobby would tell you about anything that was not right. Dobby thinks that everything that is happening is right and proper." Dobby disappeared.

Harry looked at Blaise and Daphne who were looking at each other. "Is it just me, or did that sound like a Pansy answer?"

Blaise grinned. "If you mean did Dobby say everything you want to hear while telling you absolutely nothing, yes. I'd say he's been taking lessons in Slytherin from someone."

Harry sighed as he thought about it for a second. "Remind me to talk to Pansy and Ginny about corrupting my elves later."

Blaise looked up. "Ginny? I thought she was a Gryffindor, though and though."

Daphne looked at him as if he was insane. "Blaise dear, I love you but if you think that girl's a Gryffindor, you're not paying attention. I think the only reason she got into Gryffindor was the Weasley legacy."

Harry started toward the house and as soon as they passed the gates, the house and the grounds shimmered and changed. The house was much the same but cleaner, with glass in all the window and neatly cultured gardens surrounding the house. The great wall around the house was open and Blaise stared at the house. "Nice place, Harry. Is that a Quidditch goal I see in back?"

Harry nodded. "Yes. My great grandfather had a replica of the Hogwarts Pitch built in 1954, when his son came back from his second year with a place on the Gryffindor Quidditch team."

Harry sighed, feeling the house calling to him. "Let's go. I think I have to key the wards before I can allow anyone else to find the place." he was looking around as he walked, seeing the things described in the Potter histories.

There was the burned ground, where nothing would grow, where Archibald Potter had killed the Dark Lord Drakenoir in 1459. This manor hadn't been here then, but the Potters had lived on this land since 1149, when Fredrick Potter had been granted the Barony of Godric's Hollow. The walls around the keep were the only part of the grounds that had been here the entire time the Potters had lived and died here.

There, the small knoll where more than twenty generations of Potters had been hand fasted and married.

He looked up as the wall came closer, looking for the burned scrapings where the dragon controlled by Drakenoir had died after Eleanor Potter had killed it, casting a spell that took her life as it killed the mainstay of Drakenoir's army, allowing her husband to get close enough to fight and kill Drakenoir

Harry stopped just short of the drawbridge, suddenly understand why the Purebloods fought so hard to keep what they saw as their rights and privileges.

For a thousand years or more, those families had been the only thing between the common people of these lands and the dangers of the rest of the world. They gloried in their family, because those people had done things that should be remembered.

Yet, Harry, brought up as a Muggle, could see the point of people trying to look forward to the future. Those times were past and while the people who did those things should be remembered, that did not mean that the people of today had to kowtow to the descendants of those people.

Harry sighed as the moment of insight passed. Standing on the land of thirty-nine generations of Potters was opening his mind to things Blaise and Pansy had been trying to tell him for some time now.

He stepped up on the drawbridge and walked across it, followed by Blaise and Daphne. As he entered the gardens Harry was surprised to see a dozen ghosts waiting for him. He stopped, studying them.

One of the ghosts came forward. "You bear the Potter crest. Will you then be opening the fortress, Baron Potter?"

"I will. I will be living here."

The ghosts murmured for a minute and the one in front smiled. "It has been long since last these halls heard the sounds of laughter and children, Baron Potter. It will be good to remember those things."

Harry sighed. "It would indeed, but that time has not come yet. The Dark Lord that drove my parents into hiding is still after me and this will be a place of war for awhile longer. Soon, I hope to end this war once and for all."

Harry could feel the emotions of the ghosts, dim and faint, not like he could feel the emotions of the living, but he could tell they wanted the formality. "I would open the wards to my allies. Would you be kind enough to direct me to the centre of the house, so that I can do so."

The ghost in the lead nodded. "Of course, Baron Potter. This way."

Harry and his friends followed the ghost to a room with no windows. "But lay your hands on that crystal, Baron Potter and the wards will read what you want. Be warned. Should you have faked or stolen the Potter signet, the crystal will not be forgiving."

Harry nodded and stepped up to the small stone pedestal that was the room's only decoration. On top of it was a gleaming white crystal, half the size of a Quaffle with hundreds of facets glowing and shimmering in the light. He took a deep breath and placed both hands on the stone.

_**OoOoOoO The Horcrux team, Windenmere Compound, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

"That's it, then. You're sure we can destroy the bits of soul." Mrs. Warrington said.

"Yes. We're trying to refine the technique now so that we can save the heirlooms that idiot used. What was his problem, abusing bits of history like this?" Mrs. Warrington shook her head.

"Who can say? I can assume that a man who has no real history to be proud of, who was raised in an orphanage, might want to have a connection to history in whatever way he could arrange." She sighed. "It would only be conjecture, however."

Jonathan Montague shook his head. "Well, we've run all the tests we can do right now. Slytherin's locket seems to have the best possibility of coming out of the attempt undamaged, so as soon as Miss Granger and the Curse breakers tell us to go ahead, we'll try it. Is there anything to work on until then?"

Mrs. Warrington nodded. "Mr. Potter has given us a number of things to be evaluated and destroyed from the Black estate. Be very careful with them, Miss Black has already had a few problems with them and she says that whatever you do, do not open the book she has tied shut. Apparently, when Miss Black opened it, it cast a rotting curse she survived only because her Defender was there. None of us have a Defender."

Jonathan sighed. "Does he even realize the power he is throwing away? You don't have to use these things, even. Merely owning many of them would allow you to power a great many wards around your house or property."

"I know that, but Voldemort has warped Mr. Potter's perception of these things, and it will take him a long time to understand that Dark and evil are two different things."

"So we're going to destroy hundreds of years of history, because he doesn't understand?"

Mrs. Warrington shrugged and then smiled thinly. "I didn't say that. That is Mr. Potter's desire right now. We will evaluate them, when we have time and destroy those that don't mean anything. The important ones, those will take a lot of work and we have more important things to do right now, don't we?"

Jonathan thought about it. "Of course we do. The Horcrux experiments, tests, and working out the location of the ones we don't have are the priority."

Mrs. Warrington nodded. "By the time we get to the important things he is asking us about, maybe he will have a different viewpoint."

Jonathan nodded. "I'll get right on it."

"Mr. Montague, I would suggest destroying that book, though. Mr. Potter would not be happy to find out that we had kept something that nearly killed Miss Black."

Jonathan looked at her. "Miss Granger prefers to be called Miss Granger, why do you insist on calling her Miss Black?"

"She will be the Lady Montrose soon enough. She has to understand that in this world she is stepping into, her title is important. She, like Harry may think the person is important, but that is not so in high society, and we all know that. Both of them will have to learn it."

Jonathan nodded. "Do they really think anyone cares which person wears the title of Lord or Lady Whoever? It's the title that matters to the masses, not the person. It's an image, a perception, not the reality."

"I know that, you know that, now we have to teach the two of them that."

_**OoOoOoO Auror Shacklebolt, The Ministry, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

Kingsley looked at the masses of data he had gotten handed this morning. He had been given the official position of Auror Liaison to the Commander of the Magical Forces and between the research he'd already been doing and the things he was supposed to be briefing Harry on, there were maybe fifty files on his desk with the red tab that meant 'urgent' and dozens more with lesser tabs on them.

He dug out the files he'd been looking into the last two days. The vampires were being extraordinarily careless about dead bodies, allowing them to be found every night. That had to be deliberate.

Another oddity, Muggleborns were disappearing, one or two a day, something that might not have been noticed, had Hermione's network not lost a couple of theirs and gone looking for them.

Last, and most troubling, the werewolves had been very quiet, and now, two days before the full moon, most of them were disappearing from their regular lairs. He frowned at the pattern and waved his wand at the map on the wall. Almost all of the werewolves that were suspected of working for Voldemort or Greyback had disappeared, except the ones around (Get map of Britain, find town of 2-300 population, fairly isolated and near mountains or woods.) He thought about it and came up with an idea that was chilling, but that wouldn't go away.

He really needed to talk to Potter.

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Potter manor, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

Harry touched the crystal and it flared up in a rainbow of colours that crawled up Harry's arms and covered him in a writhing mass of light.

Harry never saw that though, being completely taken up in the strange experience of having an alien presence in his mind. This wasn't like Snape, or Voldemort, both of whom were somewhat human.

This was more than the Sorting hat, and less in a way. It was a spell, designed to do just one thing: examine whoever touched it and compare that person to a set of standards stored in the crystal.

When the crystal had finished with Harry it began to plant a series of questions in his head. As soon as Harry thought about the answer to that question, another question would appear. Blaise would tell him later that he touched the crystal and stood there for about three minutes, but it seemed to take far longer to Harry.

The crystal finally let Harry go and he stepped back shaking his head. "I'm glad the Sorting Hat wasn't like that," he said. "It would scare the hell out of the first years."

Blaise grinned. "I've heard that the old family wards have rather extreme ways to defend the ancestral homes, but this is the first time I've ever seen it. Not fun, I take it?"

Harry took one last look at the crystal and started out of the room. "Better than having someone trying to kill you, not as much fun as snogging."

Blaise and Daphne were holding hands as they followed Harry. "Harry," Daphne said, "That covers a rather wide range of things, some of which are quite fun."

"It's not fun, Daphne, but I can't explain it any better than that. It's as if the crystal has some sort of spell in my head that prevents accurate descriptions of what it does."

Blaise frowned. "It did do what you wanted with the wards though, didn't it?"

Harry nodded. "The Floo is open, one room can be Apparated into, and no one but me can Apparate away from here." He thought for a minute, remembering the other things he'd had the ward do. "Anyone with a Dark Mark trying to enter the wards is not going to be happy."

Harry counted backward from ten as he waited. As he said three in his head, Blaise asked, "what do you mean by that?"

"Anyone using magical means to enter the property with a Dark magic mark of any kind will be deposited in the dungeons. Anyone trying to use non-magical means to enter the grounds will be led around to the far side and shown the stairs." He grinned at their blank looks. "There's a cliff at the back of the property. The stairs are one way and end halfway up the cliff. Reginald Potter built it three hundred years ago, during the time of the Dark Lord Orion Black. Once you're on the stairs, you have to finish walking them."

Blaise thought about that for a minute. "So, they walk off a stair that is how high off the ground?"

"Less than one hundred metres. It is the rather annoying place you end up that is the problem. The last step is a Portkey to the middle of the Atlantic ocean. A very powerful Wizard might be able to reach land from there, if he knew where he was. Without knowing where he is, it's doubtful anyone could escape."

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "That's a very Slytherin trick, Harry. I thought you Gryffindors were more direct than that."

"Reginald Potter married Alyssa Goyle, who inspired him to build it. As you might guess by the name, she was a Slytherin." Harry grinned at their looks. "I have been studying, since everyone seems to think I should know all of these things."

Blaise shook his head. "Harry, to be perfectly honest, if someone had told me a year ago that we would be working together and you would be able to name any of your family past your parents, I would have called them barking mad."

Harry sighed. "I don't understand what Professor Dumbledore was up to, but Hermione and Pansy have finally convinced me that he had some plan for me that didn't include me knowing about my heritage. Since we don't know what it was, there's nothing we can do about it now, but it does mean I have a lot to learn."

Daphne smiled impishly. "So, Lord Baron Potter Black Montrose, when are you throwing your party?"

Harry looked blank. "What party?"

Blaise and Daphne grinned at him. "Harry, you have heard of Débutante balls, correct?"

Harry nodded. "Yes, but they were for girls entering the marriage market and died out nearly thirty years ago, I thought."

Blaise sighed. "And how far behind the Muggles is the Wizard world? This is much the same thing, only it's your formal introduction into the political world. It also shows that you have the capability to host a proper event, which will enhance your social standing."

"Political glad-handing. Oh yay." Blaise and Daphne laughed at Harry's expression until he looked at them. "Blaise, it occurs to me that you two have been very busy setting up my house and I haven't asked you two to do much. I think it's time to ask you to do something."

"Sorry, Harry, but neither of us know enough about your situation to put on a proper event. You'll have to ask Pansy or Ginny, maybe. While the Weasleys don't have the standing or the position to have to have one of these parties, Mrs. Weasley was a Prewitts and knows all about them. She might be able to play the hostess."

Harry frowned, thinking about something. "How many of these parties will I have to host? One for each family name, or can I have one event for me?"

Blaise shrugged. "I never actually looked into the nuances of it, Harry. I just learned what I needed to know as Zabini." A shadow crossed his face. "Not that I need that information any more."

Harry sighed. He didn't really have anything to say, since he still thought the death of Blaise's father and the end of the Zabini name was his fault. If he hadn't offered to protect Blaise, his father wouldn't have been tortured and killed.

Harry stopped suddenly, staring at nothing. "Blaise, how old is your family name?"

Blaise looked at Harry oddly and then realized he meant the Zabini name. "Not old at all, less than a hundred and thirty years, actually, why?"

Harry looked at him with a smile. "Is there anything in your family rules that says the House cannot pass to a woman?"

Blaise blinked and then nodded slowly. "Almost all the families have something like that. It's traditional."

Harry thought some more. "Pansy's father has changed those rules in his family, since his only child is a girl and a few more of the Windenmere group have those rules also. Pansy's second born child will bear the Parkinson name and be the next Parkinson. Didn't your father make those same changes?"

Blaise sighed. "No, because he had a son."

Harry sighed. "However, your father was also a smart man, who might have made those changes, after he had to disinherit you. And, even if he didn't, who can say otherwise, if we tell the world he did?"

Blaise blinked. "Harry, that's..."

"A family matter," Harry interrupted him, "between the Zabinis and no one else." He smiled at Blaise. "I think we could get your fiancée's family to help out, if you could convince them that your family was worth saving."

Daphne smiled. "I think Daddy would be overjoyed to have another family join us."

Blaise thought about it. "It might work, but we're going to have to work fast. The paperwork is going to have to be perfect as well."

Harry nodded. "You two had better get started, then. I'll let the girls finish what they are doing and then we're going to have to get together. Daphne, after you get this started, will you have the Parkinson's send some owls? I want everyone to gather. It's been a hectic summer and I need to bring everyone up to date on everything that we're doing. While I'm at Hogwarts, I can't always be here for every decision and I know first hand that keeping too many secrets from my allies can be bad. We'll have a planning session."

The other two nodded. "Harry, thank you." Harry and Blaise looked at each other. Harry tried to say something but Blaise shook his head. "We've got work to do. We've said everything that needs to be said here."

Daphne just sighed. Men were so squeamish about feelings. "We do need to know one more thing, Blaise."

Harry and Blaise looked at her. Daphne smirked at their matching looks of confusion. "Harry, where's the Floo?"

_**OoOoOoO Nicholas Sharpstar, The Wizengamot, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

"And that is the final request put forward under the new law. I feel certain, however, that as word of the events of the last two days become public knowledge, there will be more claims coming forward." Nicholas looked around the room. Most of the Wizengamot looked tired, including their newest member, Lady Sally Ann Slytherin.

Normally, the Slytherin should have been hyphenated, but Sally Ann had not been normal yet. She was a breath of fresh air, without yet offending anyone. Yet. Nicholas smiled to himself. When the Purebloods realized what a winsome smile and a few fluttered eyelashes were doing to the Wizengamot votes, they would be annoyed and those tactics would stop working, but right now, she was cutting a huge swath through the Wizengamot Wizards.

Harry Potter had told him to help her, but six years of navigating the rocky politics of Slytherin house had done that girl a world of good. He'd had a chance to talk to her and she had a natural talent for talking and politicking that would make her a force to be considered in the future. He smiled as he thought about his coup, getting her as a client. Between the Potter account and hers, he would have a lot of influence and there were things he wanted to do.

Now, he just had to convince Harry and the Lady Slytherin. He dragged his wavering attention back to the Wizengamot as Markus Inkee spoke. "The claims of the injured parties are found to be just. With the sole exception of Lord Black's claim, the Wizengamot will forward the dispositions to the goblins at Gringotts, allowing them to take the required amounts from each of the vaults in question and inform us if any vault does not have the funds required." He smiled thinly. "Since I don't believe any of the families in question have enough money to pay off the debts, I think we're going to have to take many of their properties and businesses to pay their debts." He looked at the newest member of the Wizengamot, who was in one of the oldest seats.

"Lady Slytherin, the Wizengamot has approved Lord Black's request, based on your responses to our questions. However, given the state of the nation today, it is contingent on you upholding the high standards expected of an ancient and noble House. Should you fall into Darkness, that title can and will be taken back. Some of us feel that it should have gone to Lord Black, as he has already shown the conduct required of the title. The Wizengamot will be watching you."

Lady Slytherin, formerly Sally Ann Perks, a fourth generation witch from Brisbane, stood up. Years of dealing with the rival factions in Slytherin House without joining any of them allowed her to maintain a calm bearing as she bowed slightly to Wizard Inkee. "At this time, my only desires are to finish Hogwarts and learn more of my new House. The Death Eaters and their ilk are not to my liking. Lord Black will put paid to their accounts soon enough and I will make the name of Slytherin great again."

Nicholas smiled. Lady Slytherin was better even than Harry at making a good impression without saying anything that could hurt her. He moved over to her as the meeting ended and the members began filing out. "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask."

"I am going to have to see you a couple of times before I go back to Hogwarts. I will need a will, among other things. Until I am married and have children of my own, I am going to designate Lord Black as my heir and I would appreciate it if that would become public knowledge."

Nicholas nodded. "I will do so, if that is your wish, but do you mind if I ask why?"

Lady Slytherin looked at him. "Lord Black was just trying to redeem Slytherin's line and hurt his enemy, but I do not want You Know Who after me for being a pretender to his title. I want him to know that in the event of my death, the title will go to the one person he cannot beat."

Nicholas nodded. "I'll have the papers drawn up tonight and you can sign them in the morning. Right now, I believe Miss Lovegood and a Mr. Veritaseek, from the Quibbler and the Bludger, are wishing to speak to you. There will probably be someone from the Prophet there as well, but I don't know who that will be."

Lady Slytherin thought for a minute. "Would you be kind enough to tell them that I will meet with them in the morning? I have parents who might like to know what is happening, and plans to make to protect them. My family is my focus tonight." She said her goodbyes to Nicholas and used the Apparation point in the Ministry.

Nicholas smiled as he thought about what had happened in the last two days. Old Rat Bastard was going to be very unhappy when he found out everything that had happened. "The day of Vengeance is coming, Mary," he muttered to himself and a wife twenty years dead as he stepped up to the Apparation point. Nicholas Apparated to his office. He had a great deal of work to do.

_**OoOoOoO Mad-Eye Moody, The Inferno, 01AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

"What in hell was that, lad?" Moody looked at Lee Jordan, who was shaking his head and trying to clear some of the cobwebs out of his brain. "You're half my size, a tenth as well trained and you thought it might be a good idea to physically attack me? What the bloody hell were you thinking?"

Lee looked up. "Harry and some of the Order have noticed that a lot of the Pureblood wizards don't have any knowledge of fighting that doesn't include wands. Since I couldn't break your defence with magic, I tried a different approach." He stood up and wiggled his jaw gingerly. "It didn't work very well."

Moody grinned at him. "Lad, I didn't live to be this old or battered without learning a thing or two about what happens when the wands are gone. Get with me after the others are gone, and I'll show you what you did wrong and give you some tips in how to hurt people."

Lee shook his head again and eyed Moody warily. "This isn't going to hurt as much as whatever you just did to me, is it?"

Moody shrugged. "Pain can useful. It reinforces lessons like nothing else. However, it will not be as bad as attacking me. I won't be trying to hurt you."

Lee sighed. "I should have known that any suggestion of George's would have consequences."

Moody narrowed his eyes. "George suggested you do that?" Moody smiled again. "Make sure George and Fred join you. I think they need a few lessons in this technique, if they're going to be offering it as a suggestion."

_**OoOoOoO Harry and the Order, Potter Manor, 02AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

The house elves had outdone themselves, Harry decided. He was a little uncomfortable sitting at the head of the table, but he hadn't been given a choice. He looked around. Hermione and Pansy sat to his left and Ginny was on the right.

Beyond them were all of Harry's allies in the order. The Weasleys sat next to the heads of the families that had joined him and at other tables, almost all of the DA, the Diagon Alley Defence Group, the Windenmere fighters and the other people that had been working with Harry were enjoying the end of a dinner that matched any Harry had seen at Hogwarts.

The Potter elves had been doing maintenance only on the grounds for so long that a chance to truly do something had thrown them into a frenzy of cleaning and cooking. Harry was certain that many of the utensils were cleaner than they had even been.

He looked down the long room and marvelled at what had changed in one short summer. He had allies, friends and a rapidly growing support base that probably wouldn't go away at the first negative story.

He wasn't going back to the Dursley house, ever. He had this huge house, that he had spent more than five hours walking through yesterday, and he hadn't covered it all yet. Harry sighed as the after dinner chatter among the people in the room grew. If Voldemort was gone, the Ministry cleaned up, a few laws fixed, he'd be able to have some fun.

Pansy leaned over to Hermione and whispered something in her ear. Hermione nodded and leaned over to Harry. "This is a good time to start, Harry." She smiled at his look. "You're talked to everyone here, Harry."

Harry looked out over the crowd. "In smaller groups, Hermione, not all at once. This was my idea, though." Harry took a deep breath and stood up.

"I hope you all enjoyed the meal, because now that's it's over, we've got some work to do. All of you have been working on various projects, some of which I have been keeping secret, some of which were simply minor in the overall scheme of things, although they were important in their own way."

Harry looked out over the crowd and discarded all the things he'd been thinking of saying here. "I owe all of you for what you've been doing, from the research to Colin's pictures. You've all done things that will go unnoticed, for the most part, except by me and those of us here. I will know, and each of you will know what you have done to defeat Voldemort. I will remember and I thank all of you. I have been reading and doing some writing in the Potter and Black Histories. Everyone here will be Written and Remembered."

Harry sighed. "That said, we have a lot to cover. Kingsley, you showed me some things this morning that everyone needs to see. Why don't you start?"

Kingsley Shacklebolt stood up. "A few days ago, I started checking on some odd facts and this is what I've found out. Voldemort has apparently made some sort of deals with the vampires of Britain and the werewolves. We're trying to locate the vampire's nest now and we were keeping track of the werewolves, until two days ago. Right now, most of the werewolves are acting normally. A few, however, mostly those known to be associated with Greyback's pack, have been disappearing from their regular areas. There is one exception to that. The associates of Greyback that live in this area are still in their homes."

Kingsley and a few others had been warned that they would be giving briefings and he pulled a sheet of parchment from his robes. It floated over to a wall and grew, becoming a map of (Whatever town) and everyone looked at it. "We have a few theories about what's going on, but this morning, word came that all the rest of the werewolves we were watching disappeared last night." Kingsley looked at Remus. "Remus, why don't you give us some background on Greyback and his pack before I continue?"

Remus stood up. "Right now, Britain has a werewolf population of approximately one hundred and forty werewolves. Greyback and his pack are less than thirty as far as we know. Most of them were turned by Greyback himself. They are people that wanted to become something more than human and were willing to accept the risk of dying to get the advantages of being a werewolf. They don't see the blood-lust or madness as a disadvantage."

Remus took a drink out of his cup and continued. "Most of the werewolves are like me, ordinary people that were attacked because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and they happened to have magic. If a Muggle is bitten by a werewolf, usually, they're unaffected or killed. Those few Muggles that have survived an attack have been found to be Squibs. Apparently, whatever makes us capable of doing magic also makes us susceptible to this Curse."

"Professor Lupin," Harry blushed, as all eyes turned toward him. "Sorry, I was remembering third year. I was wondering why you called this a Curse. I thought it was a disease?"

Remus frowned. "The Ministry calls it a disease and tries to treat it as such. They haven't had any luck with that and this affliction has one indicator that should be clear, marking it as a Curse. No natural or magical disease I've ever heard of, can change a person's moral outlook so completely as to make a mother eat her child, or a loving husband kill his spouse. That marks this as a Curse to my eyes."

Hermione was thinking about it and she started to scribble notes on a pad of paper as she absently took a lock of hair and began nibbling on it. Pansy sighed and took the hair from her mouth and gave it a sharp tug. Hermione winced and frowned at her before returning to her notes.

Harry was thinking about it as well. "Why would the Ministry be treating it as a disease if it's a curse?"

"Cynically, I think because it allows them to create more controls on werewolves, if it is an incurable disease." Remus smiled. "Or it could simply be that the first Ministry person that was assigned to look into it called it a disease and bureaucratic inertia has kept them in the same rut."

Kingsley stood back up. "Which ever it is, that can wait, since you're not going to find a cure in time to stop whatever is going to happen tomorrow night." He used his wand as a pointer, tapping three small towns. "These are the only targets that they can reach, given the times that they disappeared. Given Greyback's usual habits when attacking Muggles and wizards, we think it will be (Whatever town). The town is only (Pop.), and there are a few wizard families there. I estimate there are 46 wizard targets in the area, in 13 houses."

Harry winced. "That's going to spread us far too thin, unless we can consolidate all of our targets in one place, so we can utilize all of our training and forces."

Moody sighed. "Harry, what did you and the Minister talk about on your birthday?"

Harry blinked and then blushed again. "I keep forgetting that. I can call on the Aurors, can't I?" He frowned, as he thought about it. "Moody, are they good enough to fight werewolves? I'm not going to send them to needless deaths."

Moody nodded. "They can take most werewolves, if they're prepared and alert. Greyback, he's a different story, but the average Auror has the training to take the average werewolf."

Harry nodded and looked at the map again. "How certain are we that this is the target?"

"Threat analysis actually came from another group." Ron Weasley stood up. "Based on past attacks, Greyback's mindset and some minor information lifted from one of Greyback's followers, we have arrived at the following conclusions. One, Greyback is planning a massive slaughter, such as the werewolves have not done since the 1200s. Two: based on the movements patterns of the missing creatures, the target has to be in this area. The target must be small enough to be overwhelmed in a single night, large enough to make an impact and have a high enough wizard population to create new followers for Greyback." Ron motioned at the map. "This town has everything they need. It is small enough that cutting it off from Muggle detection methods for a night is simple, isolated enough that the chances of someone driving in and escaping are slim and most important, it has history."

Ron smiled at the looks of confusion on most people's faces. "Greyback was born there. His family moved when he was twelve, but he has been back many times, maintaining a Muggle cover as a travelling salesman. He knows the area quite well."

Ron turned back to the map, and his face assumed a look most of the people could identify. It was the same look of focussed concentration that he had when he was playing chess or trying to make a new Quidditch play. "Given the data we have, the current theory is that the Muggles will be slaughtered and Greyback will take the younger Wizards and attempt to turn them. Any that are too old for him or that can not be turned will be killed out of hand."

Moody nodded. "That werewolf you interrogated, he won't be giving the game away, will he?"

Ron shook his head. "He doesn't even know we talked to him. Veritaserum and Obliviate are useful tools."

Harry nodded. "Right. I'll need all the fighters tomorrow. We'll base out of here, with Portkeys to take us to where we need to be. The leaders of the various fighting groups will meet here tomorrow at nine in the morning to plan our response to this attack. Right now, I believe Mr. Sharpstar has some things to tell us."

Nicholas Sharpstar stood up. "While I don't have any such dramatic plans to point out, I have been having a bit of fun in the political arena. The Wizengamot approved all of the claims we made against Death Eaters. Gringotts has been instructed to make the payments to the claimants." He looked at Harry. "The Wizengamot has asked me to relay a message to you, Harry. They ask that you not give any more titles away, without first consulting with them. They understand that you bought the Malfoy family and that your plan for the Slytherin title was acceptable, but the Wizengamot does have the right to reject a new family taking a title. The Malfoys, while very rich, didn't have a title as such, but they are still a little upset that you gave such a prestigious family to the people you gave it to."

Colin Creevey-Malfoy looked up from his place at the end of one of the tables. "What you mean is that they're upset that the Malfoy name now belongs to a Muggleborn."

Nicholas Sharpstar nodded. "Pretty much. They're letting it go this time, but not even your fame, Lord Black, will be of much use if you continue to offend the Wizengamot."

Harry shrugged. "While they were disturbed about what I did, was the other law passed?"

Sharpstar nodded. "By a narrow margin, but yes, it passed. The Minister signed it today."

Harry smiled. "Perfect. Why don't you explain what we've done to everyone else."

"The law is quite simple and very clear. Any person that acknowledges any so called 'Dark Lord' as their master or boss may not hold any public office or Ministry position." Sharpstar smiled. "As soon as the proof we need comes back from the International Conference of Wizards, we're going to put a lot of people out of work. We think that we can prove that the Dark Mark cannot be given to a person under the Imperius."

Harry nodded. "After the various vaults are emptied and the Death Eaters are looking for ways to finance their lives and Voldemort, we're going to buy everything they have at greatly reduced prices." He smiled at the group. "After all, they'll have to have money, but it's a buyer's market when you can't openly sell anything without the goblins taking it."

Harry looked at Nicholas. "Do you have anything else to report?"

Nicholas nodded slowly and stood up again. "It has nothing to do with politics or laws but since my associate doesn't like talking in front of large groups, I have the burden of announcing this." He took a deep breath as he pulled some notes from his pocket. "Six days ago, Hermione's Muggleborn network came to me, asking if I knew a good investigator. I directed them to James Henry Michaels, the investigator I use and he gave me this report this morning."

He looked at the notes. "Over the last week, more than two dozen people have been kidnapped from their homes, jobs or off the street. The Muggles think it is the actions of a new cult, from the evidence left behind. According to them, the people have nothing in common." He looked up at the crowd. "Mr. Michaels has access to some information they don't have though, and he was able to learn that all of the people taken were Muggleborn witches or wizards. He was also able to determine that the ones taking them have at least one wizard with them. He's dropped his other work for now and is working on this full time."

He looked at Harry. "When he finds the people responsible, he wants to know if you want to deal with it or if he should call in the Aurors."

Harry frowned. "Why do the police think it's a cult?"

"According to the police, an eyewitness to a possible suspect said the woman was wearing clothes with satanic drawings and had a tattoo of a pentagram with a goat's head over it."

Hermione hissed. "Satanists, who can really do magic. This is going to be a bloody fight, no matter which way you go, Harry."

Harry frowned, not understanding. Hermione saw his puzzlement. "Harry, they believe in a god and think he will reward them for doing things, and that if they die in his services, they will be exalted in his service. They will be fanatically loyal and willing to die."

Harry frowned as he thought about it. He looked at Pansy. "I need to speak to Gerald. I do have a use for him and his group after all."

Pansy nodded, looking at her father. "I'll set something up tomorrow."

Mr. Parkinson was watching Harry. Gerald was the man who led the Windenmere group of fighters that had been trained to fight harder than most people. They knew the Unforgivables and had demonstrated that they could use them. They had been created originally to fight the Death Eaters, using the Death Eater's own tactics against them, back when the Windenmeres had tried to break away from Voldemort.

The Windenmeres had revealed the group to Harry in early July, but Harry had decided against using them, since his Order and the Diagon Alley Defence Group was doing so well. Harry understood why they had been created and didn't mind, but he was hesitant about using the group for his fight. Harry didn't want to ask anyone to do anything he wouldn't do, even if they were willing. Mr. Parkinson frowned. He'd have a word with Pansy tonight. The last thing they needed was Harry being a little too Dark. Grey was fine, but walking the line between grey and dark was hard and they didn't need Harry becoming the next Dark Lord.

The dinner went on, with Moody speaking of the missions his group had done. Nearly two thirds of all the known Death Eaters were looking for a place to live and more than a hundred Dark things had been destroyed in his raids or captured for later destruction, once they figured out how to do it.

The Shades of Grey company was also paying for the care of several former prisoners of the Death Eaters, mostly young women found in Death Eater houses who had been tormented into insanity. Harry still grew angry every time he thought about those people. They were Muggles, treated as playthings by people that thought they were better than others because an accident of birth made them capable of doing magic.

Harry had tried to get Hermione to research a way to take a person's magic forever, but she had refused and after she explained why, Harry had reluctantly agreed with her. Harry might have the best of intentions, planning only to use the spell on Death Eaters, but sooner or later, it would come out and the next person to use it might not have the same ideals as Harry. The thought of Voldemort being able to strip a person's magic was enough for Harry to drop the idea.

The planning went on late into the night as the group made simple plans for any possible situations that might arise while Harry was at Hogwarts. The Black clan was as protected as they could get, with every home under a Fidelius, but there were hundreds of families that didn't have that protection since they didn't have the resources to do the spell.

It cost a lot to cast the spell, in materials and energy, plus the caster had to have a basic working knowledge of Runes and Arithmancy, since the caster was the one who set the conditions of the spell before casting it. Harry had the researchers in the clan looking for a cheaper and easier way to achieve the same effects but they hadn't found anything yet.

Harry was talking to Shacklebolt and Ron about the next night when Hermione and Narcissa Black came up to him. "Harry, may I speak to you, please?" Harry excused himself and looked at Hermione. She led him to a small alcove with Narcissa following them. Hermione looked at Harry. "Harry, we've been talking and I think Narcissa and I need to go into the Muggle world for a couple of hours this week. If I'm right, she may have to spend a night or two there."

Harry looked at Narcissa, who was looking hopeful and embarrassed at the same time. Harry looked back at Hermione. "Am I going to have to do anything here, or can you two handle it?" He could tell that neither of them was willing to go into details for some reason.

"We can handle it, Harry, but we're going to need some money from you, and we might have to travel to Sweden for part of it."

Harry thought about it. If it was in the Muggle world, the Death Eaters were not as big of a problem. He looked around and saw Miranda standing near by, watching over Hermione. "What are the dangers of going to Sweden?"

Miranda considered it for a minute and Harry saw that flash of humour in her eyes again. "I'd have to check with Miss Lovegood, but I think the Crumple-horned Snorkacks are mostly peaceful this time of year." She managed to get that out without even smiling.

Harry grinned and turned back to Hermione. "Go ahead, just make sure I know when you're going. If I have the people, I may send a couple more with you."

Hermione and Narcissa looked at each other. "That's fine, Harry, as long as they are witches. This is a girls only trip."

Harry raised an eyebrow at that but only nodded. Hermione hugged him and she left, whispering to Narcissa. Harry was watching the groups of people working out plans in their particular areas when he was hailed again.

"Wotcher, Harry. You've been having a lot of fun without me."

Harry turned with a smile. "Wotcher, Tonks. I thought you were in the hospital for another couple of days."

Tonks looked a little pale but she was standing, unlike the last time Harry had seen her in St. Mungo's. Remus stood nearby and he actually looked worse than Tonks. Of course, he was a werewolf with the full moon tomorrow night, so that was only to be expected. "I was supposed to be, but I convinced them that I was ready to go." She frowned. "They still won't clear me for any work except desk duty for another two weeks though."

Harry nodded. "Tonks, if I have the report from the Healers right, that curse caused your internal organs to start rotting and in the last few weeks, you've had every internal organ in your body replaced magically, yes?"

Tonks nodded. "Yes. Do you have any idea how annoying it is, not being able to use my gift? They wouldn't let me change anything, not even my hair, since they don't know if it would disrupt the healing." She changed her hair, cycling through a dozen colours before making it the vibrant pink Harry remembered from their first meeting. She looked at him hopefully. "You're going to let me work again, right, Harry? I can be useful tomorrow night."

Harry stared at her in disbelief. "Tonks, no." He saw the flicker of anger in her eyes and held up one hand. "Before you go off on me, let me explain, since you wouldn't be going on this mission even if you were completely healthy, which you're not. Some one has to watch over Remus and make sure he is protected while all of our fighters are busy. Do you trust anyone else to do that, knowing that most of the world thinks he's a danger?"

Tonks looked at Remus. "No, not really."

Remus looked at Harry. "I have been keeping myself safe for years, Harry. I don't need to wrapped in wool."

Harry flushed and looked away. Remus stared at him. "I've seen that look before. James used to have the very same expression on his face, just before he admitted doing something we weren't going to like." Remus stared at him and had a sudden idea. "Harry, you've known where I was for the last few full moons. Has someone been watching me?"

Harry winced. "Yes." He looked at Remus, who was beginning to look angry. "You're family, Remus, the last bit of family I have that can tell me about my parents. You're the only person I have that can tell me about things like dad's expressions, or how mum and he got together. Do you really blame me for watching over you?"

Remus frowned at him, torn between pride and affection for a minute. He sighed. "When you put it like that, no, I don't suppose I can. We will be having a talk though, about you doing it."

Harry shrugged. "It was for your protection, Remus, and I will never be sorry about anything I do that keeps my family safe."

Remus sighed. Given Harry's upbringing and his attitude, Remus couldn't win this argument, even if he didn't agree with the thought. He let it go and looked around, making sure they were alone. "I do have a question for you, Harry, if you would assume your Lord Black persona for a minute."

Harry blinked, not expecting that. "I can do that. What do you want to discuss?"

"Lord Black, I wish to court Nymphadora Tonks, of your family. In accordance with the customs and traditions, I am asking you for the right."

Harry almost smiled, until he saw how serious Remus was. He made a mental note to look into those customs as he looked at Tonks, who was staring at Remus. "Miss Tonks, I have received an offer to court you from Remus Lupin. Is it your wish to allow this?"

Tonks just nodded. Harry turned to Remus. "I will expect honourable behaviour from you, Mr. Lupin," he said, improvising madly. "Your request is granted."

Remus nodded. "Thank you, Lord Black."

Harry grinned at him. "Now, all you have to do is ask her father."

Remus winced. "You just had to say that, didn't you?"

_**OoOoOoO Harry, The Ministry, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

Harry walked into the Ministry and waited for the person in front of him to finish getting their badge. He stepped up to the Auror's desk. "Harry Potter, here to work." The Auror looked up. "Here you are, Sir." Harry pinned on his badge and looked at the Auror again. "Where will I find the office of the Commander of Magical Warfare?"

The Auror blinked. He blushed. "One second, Sir. I have to look it up. It's been so long since those offices were used that I am not certain." He reached into his desk and consulted a small book. "Level four, section two. The offices will be marked, Sir."

Harry thanked him and headed for the lifts. He found his new offices after a few minutes of wandering around. He stepped inside. "Good morning, Sir. I am Melissa Fairwater. The Minister has appointed me to be your assistant. Your office is ready and hot chocolate will be ready in five minutes. There are some papers awaiting you in there."

Harry nodded and looked at the outer room of his new office. He suppressed a smile. Harry Potter, Muggle raised wizard, not even out of Hogwarts yet, had an office. His urge to smile faded as he looked at the symbol of his new office. The crossed wand and sword of the Department of Magical Warfare had an air of menace and violence that made him remember what he had to do tonight.

He walked over to the only door and opened the door. The office inside was not very large with a desk and four chairs in front of it. The walls were covered with maps of the magical sections of the British islands. There were two filing cabinets and a another door. Harry opened the door to find a large conference room. He shut the door and sat down at his desk. The top of the desk was empty except for an ink pot, two quills and a pile of parchments. He sighed and picked up the first one.

_Being the Responsibilities, Duties, Rights and Privileges of the Commander of Magical Forces as set down in the Magical Warfare Act of 1091 and the amendments of 1102, 1341 and 1450._

Harry sighed. It seemed like all he'd done this summer was assume more duties, some willingly, others less so. He started reading.

A few minutes later he was interrupted by Miss Fairwater bringing him some hot chocolate. He blinked as he realized it was exactly how he liked it. She saw his look and smiled. "I had a long chat with three young ladies that know everything about you, Sir. It is my duty to insure that you have everything you need to work efficiently and I take pride in my work."

Harry smiled. "Thank you, Miss Fairwater. Would you know if the Minister has a few minutes to have a private conversation this morning? I have an item of some importance I must discuss with him."

She looked at him and saw the tension around his eyes. "Sir, if it is in regard to your duties, you do have the right to interrupt him at any time, no matter what he's doing."

Harry thought about it for a minute. "Send him a note with my apologies and tell him that I will be in to see him at ten, would you please? I also need a Floo connection."

"The Floo is in the other office, right down the hall, room 423." She saw his look and smiled. "Your associates will be using those rooms, as soon as you pick them, Sir. Your communications person has all of the Floo, owl and other communications things in their office so that you can work on your duties without being interrupted."

Harry nodded. "That's all covered in those papers you have on my desk, correct?"

She nodded. Harry shook his head. "I'll have a list of the people I want tomorrow or the next day, depending on what happens tonight."

She frowned. "Will we be seeing action tonight, Sir?"

Harry looked at her questioningly. "I'm your aide, Sir. I go everywhere you do, when you're working."

Harry sighed. "You're an Auror, aren't you?"

She nodded. "Yes Sir. Class of 1994. I was ranked tenth in the class." She grinned impishly then. "One place ahead of Auror Tonks."

Harry smiled. "If you do half as well as she has, you'll be a credit to the Aurors." He frowned for a second. "I don't mean to offend, but what is a well trained Auror doing in your position? Isn't it," He hesitated, looking for the right word.

"Sir, I volunteered for this job. I'll be right in the middle of everything working with you and the word around the Aurors is that you won't leave any of your people behind. Plus, having a stint in an office is required for advancement into the senior Auror ranks and this office is going to generate a lot of attention, which I will share in, also good for my career."

Harry smiled. "You were a Slytherin in Hogwarts, weren't you?"

She frowned. "I know you're a Gryffindor, Sir. Is there a problem with that?"

Harry shook his head. "Not at all. Miss Parkinson-Potter is one of the better people I know, along with Blaise Zabini-Montrose and Daphne Greengrass-Black." Harry thought for a minute. "Millicent Bulstrode is not a bad person either. I was guessing because most Gryffindors would be saying something about defending the world, Hufflepuffs wouldn't worry about their career and Ravenclaws would have chosen a more intellectual position to advance themselves. Only Slytherins are so blunt about advancing themselves and doing the work."

She thought about it. "So how did a logical mind end up in Gryffindor, Sir?"

Harry grinned again as he headed for his office. "I had a bad upbringing, raised by Muggles."

She sniffed. "Sir, I am a Muggleborn, and that is offensive."

Harry stopped and turned to look at her. He saw the smile and sighed. "Thank goodness. I thought you were serious for a minute and I would have hated to have fired you on the first day." Harry hid his smile for a second as he watched the astonishment flow across her face. "Obviously, any Muggleborn who got into Slytherin and made it out alive is far too sneaky and dangerous to be working for me. She'd end up taking my job in a week." He watched her consider that for a minute and then she smiled at him.

"Take your job? No, thanks, Sir. I don't want to be the Boy-Who-Lived. It would go terribly with my dress robes."

That surprised a laugh out of Harry.

_**OoOoOoO Harry and others, The Minister's Office, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

"And that is what we plan on doing tonight. It gives us the best chance of stopping this before it happens, given the resources at hand. It would help, Minister, if you could find a way to create a few more Aurors, about twenty or so." Harry finished the presentation he had given the Minister with the help of Ron and Shacklebolt.

Minister Scrimgeour was looking at the map and answered absently. "It wouldn't help today, but we're recruiting now. It takes four months to finish the basic Auror school and then we can put those Aurors in places we have skilled troops while they finish the advanced schooling."

He looked up with a smile. "Speaking of skilled Aurors, Mr. Potter, you will be happy to know that Auror Wilkes has been reassigned and is no longer cataloguing confiscated materials."

Harry nodded. "Thank you, Minister."

The Minister looked at the sheets Shacklebolt had brought with him after getting Harry's Floo call. "How many werewolves are we looking at?"

"At least thirty, according to the intelligence, Sir. I would say about forty, just to be safe."

The minister frowned. "Even if I gave you every Auror we have, that's only fifty, without uncovering some other area."

Harry shrugged. "I want forty. That will leave ten for a reaction force with my map team. We'll have eighty seven total fighters on site. It's not the three to one odds I want, but war is never everything you want."

Minister Scrimgeour looked at Harry. "Mr. Potter, just between you and I, just how many fighters does your order have?"

Harry looked at him. "My Order, or me?"

The Minister thought about that. "How many fighters do you command?"

"Tonight, we'll have forty seven at this event, ten as the reaction team in the map room, three on light duty from injuries, one indisposed and four on other missions."

"You have sixty-five fighters, Mr. Potter? I only have one hundred and fifty Auror right now."

Harry shrugged. He hadn't mentioned Gerald's group or the Diagon Alley Defence Group, since he didn't command those two groups. All total, Harry could call on a hundred fighters plus Moody's trainers, but he didn't want those numbers in anyone's head but his for now. After this was over and Voldemort was dead, he'd make sure that every one of them got the recognition they deserved.

Of course, they were up against an enemy that had a dozen advantages, including numbers they thought.

Harry brought his thoughts back to the current threat as the Minister asked another question. They had a lot to work out and not much time. The moon rose early tonight.

One way or another, this would all be over by midnight.

_**OoOoOoO The Diagon Alley Defence Group, Diagon Alley, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

Fred and George were busy all day. One of them had to stay in the store, watching over the potions, charms and other things cooking in the back, and making sure no one accidentally blew anything up that wasn't supposed to blow up in the shop itself.

The other twins was going around to the members of their group, warning them that everyone was on call tonight, as all of Harry's people would be busy. The DADG was going to be used if anything major came in from Death Eaters or other problems while Harry and the nameless Order were busy.

Fred smiled slightly as he headed for another shop. Harry had offered to make them an official arm of his new job, but Fred and George had hastily declined the honour. It was bad enough, having to be semi respectable business men, but their reputation would never survive, if anyone ever found out they were working for the Ministry.

_**OoOoOoO Moody and the Inferno trainers, the Inferno, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

"The enemy will be werewolves, and Harry has already said that his rules are in play. We come home, they fail at whatever they're doing and if they don't go home, too bad for them."

The group grinned and settled down to the serious work of planning and preparing for tonight's events.

_**OoOoOoO The Order Without a Name, Grimmauld Place, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

Auror Wilkes sighed. "I'd rather be out there with all of you tonight, but I have a squad to run in the assault. Kingsley will be with Harry somewhere, and the rest of the Aurors will be where ever Harry puts them."

The members of the Order that were not involved in something were here. Several of them were making vests. The vests were white with a Gryffindor red trim and the Black Clan emblem on the back, under the insignia of the Department of Magical Warfare. They were making them for everyone, including the Aurors. Since there was going to be a lot of confusion out there and it was going to be a night time mission, they needed a way for the various groups to keep from targeting each other.

The front of the Auror vests would have a place for the Department of Magical Warfare insignia, and the other groups out there would have their own symbols. The Black clan people would have the Black clan symbol, the nameless Order would have the emerald green lightning bolt and Fred and George had told them to put a monogram "DADG" on the ones the Diagon Alley Defence Group would using, after the vest makers had refused to waste time animating a rubber chicken design. Moody's people would have a flame on theirs, showing they were part of the Inferno crew.

Some of the group were rotating in and out of the target area, learning more about it and attempting to find the wizard houses. They were also carefully looking for the gathering place of the werewolves. Harry would rather assault the werewolves in a remote area and try and keep them out of the town or any houses if he could.

So far, they hadn't found any sign of them. They were building a good map of the area though.

_**OoOoOoO Lady Slytherin, Diagon Alley, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

"And that will conclude this statement. Thank you for your time and I will take a few questions."

Luna simply smiled and watched the woman Harry had chosen as the best representative of Slytherin.

Lemos Veritaseek raised his hand to attract Lady Slytherin's attention. "Lady Slytherin, will you be returning to Hogwarts this year?"

"Of course. If the commander of Magical Warfare can find the time to get his NEWTs under the current situation, I can find no reason for me to be absent."

Rita Skeeter asked, "Lady Slytherin, have you any one in mind for your consort?"

Sally-Ann smiled. She'd won five Galleons from Nicholas Sharpstar. He'd bet that the reporter from Witch Weekly would ask that question. "I have not been titled long enough to have even considered the possibilities in that topic yet. Since finding the right person will require some thought and study, I have no one in mind yet."

Gilda Lockhart was the younger sister of that Lockhart, Sally-Ann knew and she was rapidly gaining a reputation for being very good at ferreting out secrets. Lady Slytherin was having Sharpstar look into her background. Sally-Ann had a few allies and a decent network in Slytherin house itself, but in just about a year, she would be entering a much larger arena and she would need help from outside Hogwarts. "Lady Slytherin, would you mind telling our readers what you're likes and dislikes are?"

"That's a very broad question, and I simply don't have time to answer it right now. Leave a contact with my Solicitor and we'll try and schedule an interview before I go back to Hogwarts."

Nicholas stood up from the chair where he'd been watching Lady Slytherin talk. "Milady, we have to go, you have another appointment."

Sally-Ann thanked the reporters again and allowed them to take a couple of pictures before leaving with Sharpstar. "Is my will ready, Mr. Sharpstar?"

"It is, and I noted you were quick to tell the reporters who your heir was. Have you told Lord Black he is your heir yet?"

Sally-Ann smiled. "Of course I have. I sent him an owl this morning."

Nicholas smiled. "Which, given the way he moves around, means he'll find out sometime tonight, when he gets home from whatever he's doing today."

Sally-Ann shrugged. "How should I know? I've been watching the owls deliver the mail at breakfast time for six years. I assume he got it at breakfast time."

Nicholas looked at her innocent face and smiled. "You do that very well, Lady. Remind me to think about what you're telling me, before I give you any promises. I believe you could sell shoes to a basilisk."

Sally-Ann was about to answer when a wizard approached them. "Mr. Sharpstar?"

Nicholas looked at him and knew him vaguely. He was one of Harry's people. Three more wizards stood behind him, each of them looking in a different direction. "That's me. What may I do for you?"

"Mr. Potter has asked us to watch over you and the Lady Slytherin today, Sir. There are some things going on and Mr. Potter would be happier if you two had trained help on hand."

Sally-Ann and Nicholas looked at each other. "Mr. Sharpstar, if Harry Potter thinks it would be better for to have help around, I'm not going to tell him no."

Nicholas nodded and the four wizards moved away, surrounding them but not being obvious. Nicholas sighed. "I wonder what we'll be reading about in the morning."

_**OoOoOoO Harry, The Department of Magical Law Enforcement, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

"Good afternoon. Since many of you have been called in when you were not scheduled to work, I assume you must have figured out that this is going to be something different."

Harry looked at the group of Aurors that had been tasked to help him defend the town. Most of them were older Aurors, ones that had been around awhile and who had proven that they wouldn't freeze in a pitched battle.

Some of them were looking at him dubiously. He sighed. "I know what some of you are thinking. Who is this kid, and what makes him able to lead us. Am I correct?"

One of the older Aurors stood up. "Mr. Potter, everyone here knows who you are. That you're powerful, and that you can fight, none of us doubt. What we want to know, is why we should trust you to lead us, when you don't have any of our training, or our experience?"

"First off, you're wrong." Harry looked at the back of the room, where the answer had come from. "I've been training the boy." Moody came stumping up to stand next to Harry. "He's not a senior Auror yet, but I'd pit his skills and training against any first to fifth year Auror in the Ministry now."

The Aurors looked at each other. Moody was insane, yes, but before he'd gone around the bend, he'd been a legend, survivor of more battles against Dark Wizards than anyone in more than three hundred years.

"I understand that you don't know why I'm here, or how well I can lead. I understand that and can respect it. I would think less of you if you didn't have doubts about a new commander that drops in from nowhere. However, I am in charge and we will do this my way. Anyone that doesn't like that at the end of this briefing can pull out and he will be replaced." Harry smiled at Auror Wilkes. "I understand that they need someone to catalogue the confiscated items."

Harry looked at Miss Fairwater. "If you would, please." She nodded and a map flew to the wall and unrolled against it.

"Before I even start this briefing, let me tell you all something. While you are under my command, I have a few rules that you will abide by, or I will make you wish Voldemort had gotten his hands on you. Our people come first. If that means you kill the bad guys, no problem. I prefer that, in fact. Dead enemies can't get back up to hurt anyone else. Second, everyone of ours comes back. We don't leave anyone behind, dead or alive, certainly not alive. If you can't live with those rules, go away now."

No one moved and Harry nodded. "The target is Forestwake. We believe that Greyback and his pack will attempt to slaughter the entire town tonight as part of Voldemort's newest offence."

The Aurors murmured and one raised his hand. "Pardon me, Sir, but there are not enough of us to face any amount of werewolves and protect that much area."

"I know that, and we will be joined by two more groups of people, bringing out total numbers higher than they are now. Everyone will be issued a vest that will identify you as one of us to everyone out there. Anyone wearing the vest is a friend from somewhere and they will bring our total numbers to one hundred people. We will also have a reserve component, twenty more that we can call on in case things go sideways. In a real emergency, I have another crew to call on, fifteen more people."

Harry looked at the Aurors. "The others have been briefed already and everyone knows what I am about to tell you. If things go that bad, those fifteen people will be covering our retreat and in order to do so, they have been authorized to use certain spells and curses that we will not be using. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

One of the Aurors frowned. "Are you saying that they can use the Unforgivables?"

Harry nodded, holding up a parchment. "I have a release, signed by the Minister and the Head of the Wizengamot, allowing those people only to use them in cases of dire emergency. I will have to present my case for the use of those spells to the Wizengamot afterwards. If they disagree, I am responsible."

He turned back to the map, picking up a pointer. "We have been scouting the area under invisibility and other charms today and this is what we have right now."

Harry went on to detail the plans they had made so far. Without knowing which way the werewolves would be coming from or even how many there were, Harry had chosen to hold five groups of twenty people in a circle around the town. One of the Aurors asked why. "Because we don't know how they're going to come at this. With scouts in the air on brooms, we should see them coming and have time to move into better positions, but if they simply rush the town in a mass, I don't want anyone getting caught alone or in a group so small that all they can do is replay Horatio at the Bridge."

Two hours later the entire group was gathered at the Ministry and Harry group was passing out the vests. The people Harry was using as his staff right now, Kingsley, Moody and Ron were laying out last minute changes and instructions.

Harry was listening and watching but his mind was on what was going to happen tonight. He was winding up as tension and nervous energy filled the room. One of the drawbacks of Harry's Aestuomagius ability was that he felt what the people around him were feeling and it affected his mood.

Right now, everyone was getting tense and Harry was beginning to explore everyone around him with those tendrils of magic that meant his ability was growing stronger. The stronger Harry's emotions grew, the stronger this power of his grew.

That was a good thing, when he had something to do with that power, but if he didn't, it would continue to grow until something happened. Hermione, who had known Harry longer than anyone else except Ron, was the first to see what was happening.

She got Ron's attention and pointed at Harry. Ron looked and came over to Hermione. "If anyone asks, we went out to take care of some last minute things," Hermione said and collected Pansy and Ginny on the way over to Ron.

The three girls shepherded a mildly protesting Harry into another room quickly and quietly. Ron shook his head. Harry would be lucky if he was ever allowed to be angry again. Those three kept him on a short emotional leash.

He was distracted by an Auror then, asking another question, wanting clarification of one of the plans for the assault that night.

_**OoOoOoO The Department of Magical Warfare, (Whatever town) 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

Harry looked over his massed troops at the rally point that they would be going to their assigned positions from. "Everyone has their instructions. Go out there, be careful and come back."

Auror Wilkes stiffened to attention. "Yes Sir," she said, giving Harry a salute. She turned to her team. "Let's go, people, we've got hunting to do." Her team disappeared and the other teams followed her.

Harry looked around at his command group. Hermione, Pansy and Ginny stood there with Miranda, Luna, Ron and Neville. Over to one side, Harry's assistant, Auror Fairwater was watching a dozen Healers setting up one of the magical tents, which would be the field hospital for any injuries.

Hermione had a small square and she tapped it with her wand. It grew and became a large chalkboard. Hermione tapped a parchment and it spread itself over the board. Hermione looked at Harry with a smile. She tapped the parchment with her wand, saying "The Order Without a Name."

Harry watched as lines began spreading over the parchment. Ron, who's training had included a great deal of looking at maps, was the first to realize that it was slowly becoming a map of the surrounding area. "That's brilliant, Hermione. How did you do it?"

"It's an offshoot of the Marauder's Map. Remus and I worked it out while we were working on the Apparation map. It will show any surrounding area you take it to, and will show a few different things. First, it shows everyone wearing one of our vests tonight, so we can track our people. It also tracks un-warded magical items and beings in its area. It can't penetrate wards yet, we're still working on that, but it will show any warded area as a black blot."

The group watched as the map spread out further, outlining the town and the surrounding areas. Harry nodded. The map seemed to cover about ten kilometres in every direction from the centre of the map. He looked at it as small coloured lights began to appear. Hermione anticipated his questions. "The white dots are our people, anyone with a vest. Blue dots are magical beings of some type." She took a deep breath. "Transformed werewolves will appear as red dots, thanks to some work with Remus last month. The green dots are un-warded magic of some kind and the black areas are warded areas."

Harry pulled her into a one armed hug as he looked at the map. "Brilliant work, Hermione."

Ron was looking at it. "Can I take a closer look at an area?"

Hermione shook her head. "Not yet, it's not actually ready for use yet, but this mission is too important to leave to chance, if it might help."

Ron frowned. "Pity, that. I would love to know what this is."

Everyone looked at the area he was pointing at. There were a dozen closely placed green dots there, out in the middle of a grove that didn't have anything else nearby. There were in a circle, covering an area about thirty metres wide. Hermione frowned at it. "Some type of magical thing, but what, I don't know."

Harry looked at Hermione. "Could it be dangerous?"

Hermione shrugged. "All I can say is that it is magical. We haven't done the more sensitive spells that could tell us more yet."

Harry nodded. "That's OK, Hermione. You've done wonders to get this much out." He looked at the small circle of green dots again. "Which group is this, the ones closest to the magical things?"

Ron looked at the map. "Moody's group."

Harry winced. Moody was not the person he wanted to tell about unknown magical things near him just before a major battle was starting. He sighed and took out one of the Auror mirrors he'd been given earlier that day. The mirror was similar to the one Sirius had given him, except that Harry could talk to any one of the groups out there or even all of them at once. All of the Group leaders had one, and Harry had a couple of spares, in case something went wrong.

"Moody, this is Harry."

"Aye, lad. What can I do for you?"

Harry described what the map was seeing and Moody promised to check it out. A minute later, the people watching the map saw three of the white dots at Moody's position move toward the green dots.

The two sets of dots intermixed for a few seconds and then returned to Moody's position. A minute later, Moody was calling Harry on the mirror. "I don't know how you saw those things, Harry, and I will be asking later, but they're small wards that can be activated with a wand. It appears that you've found some wizard's privacy area. Nothing to do with us tonight."

Harry frowned as Pansy and Ginny giggled. "What sort of privacy area?" he asked.

Pansy grinned. "It's usually set up by a wizard looking to have a private place to 'talk' to his girlfriend, Harry."

Harry was about to ask another question when he realized what she meant. "Oh. I see."

Ron was looking at the map. "Harry, we've got movement and red dots."

The group turned to the map. A mass of red dots was moving onto the upper edge of the map, moving toward the village from the forest. Harry hissed. "There's more than thirty of them. Can we tell how many there are?"

Hermione touched the bottom of the map and a small section changed, becoming a group of symbols and words with the title 'map key' at the top. She touched the area again and it expanded up on side.

Running down the side of the map was a list.

Friendly: 100

Magical beings: 239

Magical items: 25

Unknown: 2

Warded areas: 17

Werewolves: 43

Below that was a description of what each dot colour meant. Ron was watching the map closely. "No attempts at strategy at all, just one mass rush." He frowned, thinking back over some of the things he'd learned over the summer. 'Something is wrong here, Harry. Greyback is more cunning than this."

Harry was one the mirror again. "All units, we have forty three enemy troops approaching from the north. Auror Wilkes, they're coming your way. Moody, you and Auror Shacklebolt are the next two closest groups. Support and assist. Fred, you and George break your group in half and cover their positions."

Harry watched as the white dots began moving. He passed the mirror to Ron. "You know what to do, Ron." Ron nodded, his eyes on the map.

Harry pulled his broomstick from his pocket and tapped it with his wand. He turned, to see the rest of his group was already mounted, even Hermione. Hermione was not the best flyer, but she could use a broom as well as any normal witch. It was only the superior skills of her closest friends that made her look worse than she was.

Pansy, who was not a Quidditch obsessed flyer, or one with a massive amount of natural skill, was no better than she was, and they tended to hang back and fly higher than the rest.

Harry smiled at them. His grinned turned into a smirk for a second as he looked at Hermione. He held a finger to his lips. "Shhh, be wevvy, wevvy quiet. I'm hunting werewolwes."

Hermione stared at him blankly for a second before she got the Elmer Fudd imitation. She rolled her eyes. "Of all the things you could get from the Muggle world, you had to remember a cartoon?"

Harry shrugged and looked at the map again. The red dots were still two kilometres from the rapidly gathering white dots and when Harry turned around again, he was very serious. "I want everyone to come back. No exceptions."

He lifted off, the rest following him in a group. Luna and Neville were close together, with Pansy, Hermione and Miranda behind them.

Out in front, Harry led Ginny and Auror Fairwater, who was not bad on a Broomstick. The group came closer to the area where the werewolves were coming from and slowed, searching the area for signs of the battle.

Harry heard a buzzing in his pocket and slowed a bit more to take out a mirror. "Go ahead, Ron."

"The enemy is about one hundred metres ahead of the Order and you are about two hundred behind them and slightly left of them."

Harry nodded, forgetting Ron couldn't see him. "Thanks, Ron." He put the mirror away and headed in the direction Ron had indicated. They'd barely started when a couple of howls and some light flashes showed them exactly where the battle was.

Harry snarled silently and took off, quickly outpacing everyone else on his Broomstick. Harry's new Broom wasn't as fast as his Firebolt, but it was still the best the Comet company made and no one else had one to compare to it, except Ginny and she simply didn't have Harry's skill.

Harry shot over a tree to see the battle below him. Auror Wilkes had laid out the portable swamps in two legs, forming a V shape that funnelled the beast controlled werewolves down into a tightly packed mass and impeded their superior speed.

Some of the smarter ones were turning from the massed spells that her group was firing into their midst, but Moody and Shacklebolt were on the flanks and targeting those trying to run. Harry threw a Reductor at a werewolf trying to escape, cutting his leg nearly in half just above the knee. A second later another curse Harry didn't recognize was splashing the werewolf's head across the swamp he fell into.

Harry felt the buzz again and pulled up, watching the battle. "Harry! Twenty two more have appeared, right in the middle of town!"

Harry's eyes blazed and he turned for town, pushing the Comet 310 hard. His team followed, unsure of why Harry was changing the plan, but trusting him to have a good reason.

Ron had been watching the battle when the map key changed and the red dots appeared in a building in the town. He'd called the nearest groups and then told Harry.

Ron was looking at the battle, where werewolves were going down rapidly and then back at the town, where red dots were entering houses in all directions. "All groups, we have twenty two werewolves in the town. They are splitting up and entering the houses."

Auror Wilkes heard that and swore. They still had a dozen or so werewolves to take care of here. She looked at her people and called Moody. "Our two groups can handle this, go help the Muggles."

Moody didn't need any more urging and collected his people, Apparating away within a minute.

Auror Wilkes turned back to killing werewolves with a snarl. This was going to be a bloody night.

Greyback snarled at the woman in front of him and tore her throat out with a careless swipe of his claws, glorying in the spray of blood over his face. Greyback was an Alpha wolf and he still had some intelligence, even as he allowed his beast to run rampant.

He smirked as his ears caught the sounds of howling outside of town. From the sounds, they were encountering resistance. That would keep the Aurors busy. A week ago, one of his followers had missed an appointment. Some quick magic had shown them that he had been Obviated and those fools out there were paying the price. Greyback had taken them all from their homes this morning, when no one expected to see a werewolf in public, and it was likely no one knew yet that many of the lesser werewolves, the ones that tried not to hurt people were even missing yet. By setting them up in the forest at the edge of town, he had made sure that they would attack as soon as the smell of eat and blood reached their enhanced senses.

They would give him time to do what had to be done tonight.

He leaped, busting out of the window after his nose told him no one else was alive in this house. He would show those fools how to kill properly. He landed and howled, a victory howl as his nose and ears told him that the hunting this night was superb.

He ran down the street, seeking another house of living meat to kill.

Ron was directing people toward red dots, but it was taking time. The red dots of the werewolves had split up, going in twenty different directions at once. Since he could only talk to someone with a mirror, he had to relay a red dot location to whoever had the mirror and they relayed to a group of fighters who would move in to contain the werewolf.

He noted absently that Harry and the other broomstick riders were entering town but he was too busy to say anything to them right then.

Susan Bones peered around the broken doorway of the house that had a werewolf in it, according to her group leader. She didn't see anything, and motioned the rest of her people to follow her. They were all inside when a scream echoed from upstairs somewhere and cut off with a sudden gurgle. She was starting toward the stairs when a werewolf came bounding down them.

His speed put him among them before they could get a curse off and a slash of yellowed claws opened the chest of Dean Thomas, crumpling him where he stood.

The werewolf was over two metres tall and Susan stuck her wand at the base of his skull and cast the Concussio spell that Charlie Weasley had used so well.

The werewolf dropped, his head simply gone in a fine red mist. Susan caught a glimpse of Colin Creevy snapping a picture as she dropped to check on her team mate and friend. "He's alive. Give me a Portkey."

Hands picked her up and another took her place. Dean and Seamus Finnegan were gone. "Sorry, but we need you here. They'll take care of them."

Susan looked at her team. "We need to stay spread out a bit more. Remember that speed."

She pulled out her mirror as she led them out of the house. "One down, where's the next one?"

Auror Wilkes was supervising the final clean up of the werewolves at the first battle site, although it had not been a battle, but a slaughter. She was absently wondering why Greyback had been so stupid. He fought better than this.

Almost all of the werewolves that had come in this way were dead, and the ones that weren't, were trussed up in silver chains that kept them unconscious and docile. They were making sure they hadn't missed any of them right now, and that all of the 'dead' bodies were dead.

That was proven to be a good thing as a werewolf erupted from the edge of a swamp, attacking the Auror that had gotten a little too close. The Auror's cries barely lasted a second before a gaping muzzle was buried in his throat and claws were tearing and shredding things in his abdomen.

The Auror fell and before the bloody monster could move, a dozen curses hit him at once, ripping him apart much as he had just done to the young Auror.

Auror Wilkes winced. That made three of hers dead and four badly enough wounded to need the field hospital. Hopefully, none of them would be turned.

Fred and George had been tasked out for a new duty. Their people from the Diagon Alley Defence Group had a lot of Portkeys and they were desperately trying to evacuate Muggles from outlying houses, moving into town.

The Portkeys sent the Muggles to a warehouse where the Obliviators were waiting. They would have a memory of a bad gas leak planted in their heads after the memories of the night were erased.

By dawn, the town would look as if a gas leak had erupted, covering any evidence they couldn't destroy of the evening's events. Harry had hoped to contained the werewolves outside of town, but Ron had insisted on planning for the worst case scenario.

This wasn't it, but it was bad enough.

Hermione and Pansy were providing cover for Harry, Ginny and Miss Fairwater. Hermione was certain Harry was doing something to make the werewolves attack him, because all he was doing was floating down the street slowly, about a metre off the ground.

As he went along, every so often, a werewolf would come out of the shadows or a house and come straight for Harry. None of them had reached him yet, not with spells coming from five different wands and directions.

Ron was watching the town and cursing. The map was fuzzy as more and more dots collected in town. He was certain there were at least five more red dots in town, but he couldn't find them.

The map went black suddenly and then cleared to being a simple sheet of parchment. Ron touched it with his wand. "The Order Without a Name."

He swore and jumped back as the parchment burst into flames. He grabbed his Broomstick and took off, heading for town.

In town, Harry and his group had stopped another werewolf, and then landed as Hermione and Luna worked on the two Muggles that the werewolf had been attacking when they came on him. Miss Fairwater and Miranda were standing at the edges of the group, watching for more werewolves and Neville was handing things to Luna from her bag.

Ginny was the only one that hadn't landed yet, circling overhead and providing air cover. She passed by a house with a broken door and windows, indicating a werewolf had already been there and left when she heard a faint cry.

She slowed, cocking her head, and heard it again. There was a baby crying in the house. Ginny flew in through the shattered window, her wand out. She landed and followed the faint cry.

She nearly threw up as she walked past the remains of a woman. She followed the cry to a small room. In the room, she found a baby hidden hastily in a closet. She picked the child up and shushed it, trying to calm the child.

She turned, starting back out the way she'd come. A hideous snarl greeted her and she looked up to see two werewolves entering the room, their eyes fixed on her and the child.

Ginny froze for a second and that was too long as the one in front jumped at her.

Harry looked around as Hermione's Portkey sent the Muggles away for better care than they could give them. He pulled his mirror and was about to call Ron when Ron landed next to him.

"The map blew up, Harry. We have almost all of the werewolves down, but there may be one or two more." Ron looked around. "Where's Ginny?"

The group looked around. A scream and a howl came from a building one door down and they spun. Harry was there one second and not the next. The crack that announced his departure left them all a little shaken as they rushed for the sounds.

Ron and Miss Fairwater were just entering the house when a new sound assaulted their ears. It was an unearthly cry of loss and anger.

The house glowed for a second, before every window in it and two of the walls blew up, pelting them all with debris and glass. Miranda grabbed Hermione. Hermione struggled but Miranda didn't even notice as she removed a shard of glass from Hermione's neck and healed the deep gash. By the time she was done, the others were inside. Ron and Miss Fairwater picked themselves up from the ground and followed Pansy into the house.

Ginny jumped back into the closet as the werewolf jumped at her, turning her back on the creature, sheltering the baby in her arms as she pulled her wand. Blinding agony shot through her system as the werewolf raked her back, opening her robes and skin open, baring her spine and tearing chunks of meat and skin away. She screamed as one of the monsters howled.

She held on to consciousness with a ragged edge and stuck her wand under her arm. "Concussio."

He fell, Charlie's spell ripping and pulverizing his upper half into so much shredded meat. Ginny would never find out how well her spell worked as the second werewolf stepped on his dead companion and reached out to grab Ginny's exposed spine and rip it out of her body.

Ginny faded out, crumpling around the baby that was still crying weakly, her last thought to cover it with her body, hoping that someone would be here in time to save the child.

The werewolf was reaching for her again when a crack hurt his ears and he spun, Ginny's spine in his hand still. Before he saw what was behind him a new sound tore across his ears, making him howl in pain as the impossibly loud sound ripped at his acute hearing.

Harry Apparated as he heard the scream, not knowing how he did it blind, and not even thinking about it. He appeared behind a werewolf who spun and Harry's world stopped, everything frozen in crystal clarity before him.

The werewolf, with something red and bloody in his hand.

An even bloodier body, with hair he knew better than his own, crumpling behind it.

A faint cry, coming from the body.

Harry screamed, anger, hate and fear for Ginny sending his emotionally powered magic to heights he'd never reached in training. The house shuddered and shook as Harry screamed and he directed everything he felt at the werewolf.

The thing disappeared, gone in a flash of burning light.

Harry crawled over the body, never realizing he was on his knees. He tried to turn her over, but she didn't turn right, her body twisting in ways nothing human should be able to move. Harry moaned, and suddenly his magic flared again. He had this power. He could fix this.

He reached, pushing the power into Ginny, willing her to live again. He could feel the damage repairing itself, healing all the marks the werewolves had inflicted on her, replacing everything and he reached deeper, pushing more magic into her.

Pansy reached the room first and saw Harry surrounded by a glowing light, Ginny's body in his arms. She saw Ginny's body and her heart fell. No magic in the world could bring a wizard back from those injuries. Spines and brains were two of the trickiest things to work on, and no one had yet found a way to replace a missing spine. She started toward Harry when the light around him flared and then disappeared, flowing into Ginny. She stared, disbelieving, as Ginny's injuries disappeared.

That was impossible. She looked at Harry and saw his eyes. They were fixed on something only he could see as his lips formed one word again and again.

"Live."

Pansy suddenly knew what Harry was trying to do. She moved toward him, only to be stopped by the heat that was starting to radiate from Harry. She could feel her skin beginning to burn, like a bad sunburn.

Pansy cried out but Harry never changed, even as his hair singed and his skin reddened, blistering badly. Pansy raised her wand. Harry was going to keep trying to raise Ginny until he literally burned out and she couldn't think of any other way to stop him

"Stupefy."

The beam hit Harry and Pansy flew though the wall as Harry exploded in a wash of magical energy.

_**OoOoOoO The Author, Here and Now. OoOoOoO**_

_I have known since before I wrote the second chapter that Ginny was going to die. While I don't have the rather severe dislike of her that some people do, I don't feel that her personality, what we saw of it, is right for Harry and a long term relationship. Harry is going to be a right mess in the next chapter and it may take some determined work work by a few people to bring him out of it._

_In other news, I am working on the next chapter of BoB and MM&WS and chapter two of the Penultimate Straw is at the Beta Team of Kinsfire and Ishtar (Whose works you should read. Really, go on and read them, I'll wait. Sounds of humming and singing. OK, that was worth it, wasn't it?) along with the final chapter of Sweet, Sweet Revenge._

_**OoOoOoO The Fate of Ginny's Killer. OoOoOoO**_

He screamed, deep in the back of the mind of this creature. He'd caught the scent of another hunter, a hound of some kind, this time and he was off and running again.

He knew who he was, of course. His name was Jonathan Nott, second cousin to Theodore Nott and third in command of Greyback's pack.

What he didn't understand was how he'd become this small rabbit or why it had a bleeding wound that attracted every hunter in the area. He didn't understand why it never healed either.

What he did know was that he had already been eaten a dozen times, and still he returned to this body the next dawn, only to be eaten again, by foxes, wild ferrets, weasels and anything else big enough to tear the flesh from his body and devour him.

He could all too vividly recall each death, the pain and fear of this helpless little creature he'd become as he died again and again.

Had he known that this would continue forever, until the planet died, he might have despaired. Had he known that he would never go insane or end this torment, he would have despaired.

Instead, he ran, hunted and eaten every day.


	14. Grief, Anger and Revenge

_A/N: I know it has been a while, so if you don't remember what happened in the last chapter, you might want to go back and check the chapter out. I'll wait, I promise. Now, let's see how the rest of the world deals with the events of last night._

_Disclaimer: Forty one stories, uncounted chapters, (at least by me.) and dozens of disclaimers later... you still don't know that I don't own this? Please. If I owned it, you'd be paying for these words, the last two books would be vastly different and the finest witch of her time would not be tied to a complete idiot. Nor would Harry be with the unformed blob that was Canon Ginny.(Why does my spell checker always want to change Ginny to ninny? Does it know something I don't?)_

_**Harry Potter and the Shades of Grey**_

_**Chapter Fourteen**_

_**Grief, Anger and Revenge.**_

_**OoOoOoO The aftermath of battle, 03AUG1997. OoOoOoO**_

People began converging on the fires in the town as they began spreading. The werewolves seemed to be gone and the fire was the biggest danger right now. Susan and her team concentrated on putting out the flames while Moody and his group searched for any left over enemies and survivors.

There were no werewolves and very few survivors to be found. It was Moody that found Ron Weasley, buried under some rubble near the centre of the explosion. He dug him out and found Luna covered by his body. Moody called for the healers and used his eye on the remains of the house.

He got two of his people and started moving things. There were living people in there and at least three of the people had been with Harry Potter. He found Miranda next, impaled through the thigh by a broken beam but still conscious and holding a levitation spell over Hermione, keeping as much weight off of her as she could. Moody braced the rubble and Miranda looked at him, her eyes blank as she fought the pain.

"Miss Parkinson, Miss Weasley and Lord Black are in here somewhere."

Moody swore as she passed out, the pain finally overcoming the discipline of the Defender. He carefully cut the jagged beam off and moved her out of the area as he used his eye to continue looking for living people.

He swore softly as he found just two people alive and some sort of energy ball that he'd never seen before. He looked up as someone moved up and began helping him. Auror Fairwater looked at him. "We need Harry. The Aurors are finishing the business, arranging the town and the Obliviators are already at work, but we need to get the rest of this done and clear out. We have about an hour before the Muggles start pouring into this area."

Moody frowned. He didn't have Harry or even know if he was alive yet. Moody thought he would be, but at the least, he was going to be hurt and in no condition to do anything right now. "Harry trusts you, or you wouldn't be here. You're going to help me with something."

He thought for a minute. "Go get Neville Longbottom. We're going to need him."

She nodded and left. Moody kept digging in the rubble and soon found another body. He was calling for the healers before he had more than the one arm exposed. With burns that bad, this person was going to be lucky to survive.

By the time he had the body uncovered, the healers were there to take Pansy away, carefully lifting her from the remains of the house.

Neville and Auror Fairwater were there as they left and Moody called the Inferno healer. He looked around as the four of them huddled behind a bit of wall that had somehow remained standing. He looked at them all. "Potter isn't going to be able to take control tonight, even if we get him out right now so we're going to put Neville in his place. Fairwater, you'll stay by his side, just as you should and help him play Potter. Keep him moving and don't let anyone talk to him for long and we should be able to keep everyone happy until Harry's on his feet again. Then we'll have Harry and Neville talk and send Neville off with a Portkey."

The other three nodded. Neville was thinking. "I assume you have some way to disguise me, but how are you going to change my speech? Harry and I don't talk alike."

The healer smiled. "Easily done. I assume that's why Alastor called for me. It's a thing we've used to get spies into Death Eater gatherings. All we need is a bit of Polyjuice Potion and a quick spell. We'll cover you, lad, no worries there."

While they talked Moody had continued to lift rubble and now they all worked quickly, lifting at Moody's directions, working their way deeper into the rubble, heading for the last living thing Moody's eye could see.

They finally got there and found Harry unconscious and badly burned although not as badly as Pansy had been. Luna began examining him as Moody took a couple of Hairs from his head. Moody and Auror Fairwater got Neville changed and the Auror took him off to talk to the rest of the Aurors after the Inferno medic cast a spell that made it seem as if his jaw had been broken and was now healing.

Luna and the medic were taking Harry when Moody stopped them. He poured something into Harry's mouth and rubbed his throat until Harry swallowed it. "Take him out of here quietly. Neville may be playing Harry longer than I thought." As he finished speaking, Harry changed into Neville. "Don't let anyone know that Harry was hurt. We'd lose the confidence of the Aurors and the public would panic, since everyone knows that Harry is the only person that can stop Voldemort."

Luna nodded, her attention on Harry. The two of them carefully levitated Harry out of the ruins of the building. Moody turned back to the building, having gotten everyone else away. He already knew what he was going to find here, but the rest of these kids didn't need to see what was here.

Moody knew that the only bodies left were just that; bodies. He was assuming that Miss Weasley was as badly torn up as everyone else in the building had been and he was going to fix as much as he could before Harry, Hermione and Pansy had to see her remains. They didn't need the distraction of seeing her burned and torn right now. Far too much rested on their shoulders.

He uncovered her body and stared. Ginny was undamaged, wrapped around a ball of energy that contained a small baby. Moody used his wand and began to reconstruct the events that had played out here. These were Auror spells, used to recreate a crime scene, although few people were strong enough these days to cast them and the Ministry had stopped teaching them in the Auror academy during the first Voldemort War.

Moody watched as a phantom Ginny came in and snarled as she ignored everything else to get the baby. He'd tried so hard to make the Order members understand that civilians waited until the enemy was gone. Ginny hadn't listened and she'd paid the price. His thoughts cut off as he watched Harry heal her injuries and continue to glow. He watched Pansy stun him in the back and the scene faded away.

He sighed and cast another spell, one to erase the magical traces of the entire scene so that no one else could call it up. He couldn't let anyone know what had happened here.

He levitated the baby and Ginny Weasley, taking another of his students home for the last time. Moody was the only one there so no one saw the tears before he dried his eyes and left, as stone faced as he ever was.

Neville was listening to Auror Fairwater as they came up to another group of Aurors. "So all you have to do here is thank them and let them know that they can go now."

Neville nodded, feeling as if a dozen butterflies were having a formal ball in his stomach. He just knew someone was going to realize he wasn't Harry. He thanked the Aurors for their efforts and told them that they could go home now. He started toward the next group as Auror Fairwater reminded him they had other people to see to.

Ron blinked as he woke up. He remembered what had happened and he tried to sit up, only to have Luna push him back down. You have some broken bones, Ronald," she said. "You're going to have to remain here for now."

He winced, feeling the familiar pain of Skele-Grow working on his arm and left leg. "Where's Harry? Is it all over? How many people have we lost?"

Luna sighed as she handed him a potion. "We lost eleven people total. Seven Aurors, one of Moody's people and two of the Order."

Ron nodded and then frowned. "That's only ten." He looked at Luna again and saw past the distant look she normally had, to the redness around her eyes and the marks of tears and he swallowed heavily. "Who did we lose, Luna?"

Luna sat down besides him and reached for his hand. "I'm very sorry, Ron, but Ginny didn't make it."

Ron stared at her as the words sank in and Luna continued to talk, telling him all she knew about how Ginny had died. Another healer came in a few minutes later and Luna waved him out, holding Ron as he cried.

_**OoOoOoO Everyone, the rest of that night. OoOoOoO**_

Pansy woke slowly, her thoughts slow and unfocused until a sharp odour pierced the fog of her thoughts. She shook her head and looked around. Miranda was leaning against the wall watching her and the bed next to her. Before she could look in that direction, the Healer leaning over her captured her attention and examined her briefly.

He looked at Miranda when he was done. "She'll be fine in a few days, provided she continues to take the potions on schedule. I'm going to see who else needs me." He left, taking a large bag with him.

Pansy looked at the other bed in the room with her, to see Hermione sleeping peacefully. She looked back at Miranda, noting the signs of fatigue and pain that even her training couldn't hide. "How is Hermione?"

"Miss Black will be fine in the morning." Miranda frowned. "At least until she asks about Harry."

Pansy froze, the last thing she could remember was Harry exploding in a furious ball of magic. "He's not.."

Miranda cut her off. "Harry's not dead, not yet anyway. The Healers are still working on him." Miranda considered her for a minute. "What happened up there? Moody said that a werewolf killed Ginny and that Harry killed the werewolf, but what happened to Harry?"

Pansy thought quickly. "Harry's Aestuomagius power flared when he saw Ginny. I think it flared out of control."

Miranda stared at her. "I will tell everyone that, but we both know you're lying. You will tell me the truth when we have more privacy."

Pansy looked at her and slowly shook her head. "No, I won't. This secret will go to my grave with me." She looked at Hermione. "Harry and Hermione grew up Muggles, and don't know all the taboos and rules of the Wizard world. Harry tried to do the impossible, without knowing the consequences of his actions." Pansy thought about what Harry had been trying to do.

Every wizard and witch knew that Necromancy of any kind was strictly forbidden by every practitioner of magic in the world. Oh, there were some things that seemed to raise the dead, but true Necromancy was forbidden. It had been tried, several times over the centuries and four times, people had succeeded in bringing someone back from the dead.

It was those successes that had caused the ban on Necromancy. The people who came back were never the same as they had been before they died. They always went crazy within a month, turning into violently insane maniacs, killing anyone and everyone they saw. The last one, back in 1102, had killed more than one hundred and fifty people before being reduced to nothing. Most people believed that where ever a soul went after death was so very different from life that being brought back drove them insane.

There were no books on the subject, and wizard children quickly learned that even talking of it was not allowed. Some of the Muggleborn had mentioned it when they first came to Hogwarts, but they soon learned that it was not a subject for any discussion.

As far as Pansy knew though, neither Harry or Hermione had even mentioned the subject to anyone, or even thought about it, until Harry had seen Ginny's body. Pansy closed her eyes as she remembered what she'd seen. She cried silently, remembering the vivacious girl that she would not see again in this world. She slid back into sleep, carried on potions and tears.

Miranda watched over her charge, and if she cried for Ginny, there was no one to see or tell.

_**OoOoOoO Harry's Inner Circle, Potter Mansion, Dawn. 04AUG97. OoOoOoO**_

Neville raised his head from the table as Moody's distinctive steps entered the room. He looked around as Moody started toward him. He was still wearing Harry's face, although everyone in this room knew he wasn't Harry.

Hermione and Pansy were in the corner whispering quietly under some privacy spell Neville didn't know. Miranda was in a chair nearby, sleeping. Neville smiled slightly. It had taken nearly an hour of bullying and pleading by Hermione and Pansy to get Miranda to relax and sleep when Hermione was awake and moving. It only been Hermione's promise not to leave the room without waking Miranda first that had finally convinced Miranda to sleep, and even then she had flatly told Pansy that if Hermione was more than three metres from her without Pansy waking her, she would do things to Pansy that would be remembered for centuries to come.

Neville sighed as he realized that there were no redheads in the room at all. Since Ginny, Ron, Fred and George had all been part of Harry's inner circle, Neville couldn't remember any meeting that didn't have at least one of the Weasleys present. The Weasleys were all at the Burrow with Ginny's body.

Remus, looking as worn as any of the people that had been out fighting last night, was talking quietly to a quiet black haired girl that Neville almost didn't recognize as Tonks.

Luna was sitting next to Auror Fairwater. Luna was making little birds out of paper and Auror Fairwater was sorting some papers in front of her. Since they'd both been doing that for the last hour, Neville was sure it was just busy work for their hands.

Neville looked up as Moody sat down beside him. "Harry's alive," was Moody's blunt opening, "but the Healers can't say if he'll wake up or when. He's in a deep coma and not even the best of the Healers can reach his mind."

Neville fought down a wave of panic. They had to have Harry. He took a deep breath and thought about it. "What do we do now?"

Moody sighed, staring down the table. "What can we do? I think Harry will wake up, the boy's too stubborn to quit, but we can't let anyone know he's hurt. Harry should never have let everyone know that only he can defeat Voldemort. If word gets out that he's incapacitated, Voldemort will be able to walk into the Ministry and take over without opposition."

Neville looked up to realize that everyone was gathered around the two of them. He told them what Moody had said.

Hermione looked at Luna, who was the closest thing to a Healer in the group. "Can you think of any avenues that a regular Healer wouldn't try, like that potion of yours?"

Luna looked at her as she folded yet another little animal. "I don't know anything about problems of the mind. My studies have all been in healing physical hurts."

Luna looked out the window and she continued. "I examined Harry last night. Physically, he's fine. The burns and injuries were fairly standard, even if most Dragon handlers never get that badly burned, but that was easily fixed. Harry did something that we can't guess at, and with the extent of his injuries, I have to assume he did it with his own power, since no werewolf or magic I know of could have done it. If we knew how he was injured, we might be able to figure out what's wrong with him, but no one awake knows what happened."

Pansy closed her eyes. She knew exactly what had happened. Harry had broken one of the deepest taboos of the magical word, and she had stunned him, when he was channelling more power that most wizards could use in a lifetime. If she told anyone what Harry had been doing, his reputation and name would be ruined forever. Not even defeating Voldemort would clear this stain from him. The Potter name would be blackened forever.

On the other hand, if she didn't say anything, he might never wake up again.

Moody looked at Pansy. He read the signs of her internal debate and decided to have a talk with her later. Harry wouldn't allow anything to stop from saving people, even if those people wouldn't talk to him. As long as his friends stood by him, Harry would do what needed to be done, no matter what the cost to him. Moody turned back to the discussion, keeping a magical eye on Pansy as they discussed what had to be done. She was going to have to tell someone what had happened.

Three hours later they had a plan in place. Neville, Tonks and Remus would take turns playing Harry in public, while avoiding any place or meeting where Harry's signature or oath would be required.

The Minister and Harry's Healers would have to know about the deception and at least some of the Weasleys would have to know, since Ron knew Harry too well to be fooled for long, and Fred and George had used the double deception far too many times to be misled for long.

"Mr. Sharpstar will have to know as well," said Hermione. "As will Blaise and Daphne. Can anyone think of anyone else that needs to be told?"

Moody shook his head. "No one else should know. The more people that know a secret, the higher the chances that one of them will let something slip." He frowned. "I think we're already having to let too many people in on this secret for safety, but we don't have any choice in those people."

Neville stood up. "I've got to make a short appearance in Diagon Alley. Hermione, I know you were coming, is anyone else going with us?"

The rest of the group had other things to do and Neville left with Hermione and Miranda.

Pansy looked up as Moody sat down next to her. "I know what you're hiding. I even understand why you're not saying anything. I also know that if you don't tell anyone, Voldemort will win and Harry's reputation won't matter."

Moody sat quietly for a minute, letting Pansy think about it. "Of course, if it was me, I would talk to Luna. She wouldn't care about what Harry did, and she could be useful. It's not like any other Healer we have has any more experience dealing with Aestuomagius injuries."

Pansy nodded and stood up. "I have to talk to my father, but I will do something."

Moody watched her leaving, wondering which of her loyalties was stronger. She loved Harry, but she was still a Windenmere and that loyalty was far older than her love.

_**OoOoOoO Ginny's funeral, 06AUG97. OoOoOoO**_

Tonks was very uncomfortable playing Harry and desperately wanting to say good bye to Ginny as herself.

They couldn't take the chance that some reporter would sneak in and find out that Harry wasn't here though. The funereal, like most wizard services was limited to family and close friends, but Ginny Weasley had been betrothed to Harry Potter. The reporter that showed up with a story about this would be in a position to make a lot of money and too many of them were like Rita, willing to do whatever it took to get a story.

They had already had to tell the Weasleys about Harry. There was no way to fool the Weasleys about it when 'Harry' was going to be there for several hours. Tonks looked around the Weasley family graveyard.

It was vastly different from the Black family graveyard, the only other private graveyard she'd ever seen and she thought being buried here was vastly preferable. It was set on a small hill with the oldest graves at the top of the hill and the rest spreading out from the crest of the hill in a winding spiral. In the distance you could just see the Burrow. This place was in the land behind the Burrow, on land that had belonged to the Weasleys for longer than anyone knew. Tonks had seen the graves at the top of the hill earlier and at least one of the people buried up there had died in 934.

The Weasley men had spent the previous day digging the latest grave by hand, a ritual that Arthur Weasley insisted on. It had been the family custom for as long as they had history. The men dug the graves by hand as the women prepared the body, also by hand.

Tonks was shaken out of her thoughts as the Weasleys approached with Ginny. Her brothers carried the solid black plank that Ginny was on. Like many of the oldest families, the Weasleys didn't bury their dead in coffins, only a shroud.

Spared a look at the other people here today. Hermione and Pansy stood behind Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Tonks went to join them. Behind them were a few people from Hogwarts, including Neville and Luna. There were four of Ginny's year mates, none of which Tonks knew by name. Behind them were the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Tonks frowned at the single person behind all of them. She wasn't sure of his name, but he was one of the Minister's flunkies.

The Weasley boys laid Ginny down gently and stood beside their mother as Arthur moved to the head of the grave. Molly was silent, withdrawn and with the false calm of someone under a Calming Draught.

Arthur said a few quiet words about Ginny and then she was lowered into her final resting place.

Molly wept as the men covered her daughter.

_**OoOoOoO**_

After the family was gone the Ministry man stopped by the grave and cast three short spells on the grave. A very small glowing medal floated there. It would show everyone that saw the grave that Ginevra Weasley had earned an Order of Merlin Third Class.

He sighed as he looked toward the Burrow. He hated his job sometimes. He started walking toward the Weasley home. They might appreciate the medal in the days ahead, but right now, they would much rather have their daughter back.

_**OoOoOoO The Order Without a Name, 08AUG-14AUG97. OoOoOoO**_

Neville looked down the table as he shifted, trying to ease the pain of his healing burns. There had been an attack by Death Eaters and he'd nearly been hit by a flame whip spell. It had come close enough to give him blisters along his thigh.

"They're getting smarter." Moody was staring at the map that tracked Apparations. "They are back to using hit and run tactics. They know we have some way of tracking their movements, so they pop in, fire off a few spells and leave before we can react."

Ron was looking at something only he could see and he considered this new angle. "I would expect to see them try a trap soon. They'll pop up somewhere, and hang around just long enough for us to get there and have prepositioned Death Eaters waiting, or something similar."

Moody nodded. "Aye. I agree. The question is, what do we do about it?"

Miranda looked up from her place behind Hermione. "More important, I think they are beginning to suspect there's something wrong with Harry. In the last three encounters, at least two of them have fired at Harry exclusively, even when there were better targets for them to attack."

Neville frowned. "It had to happen sooner or later. No one here can duplicate the way Harry fights. I can use the disarming spell, but Harry simply has more power than I do and sooner or later, someone had to realize that I wasn't always successful in the spell."

He looked at Luna, who was treating an injury on George's arm. "I don't suppose Harry woke up while we were gone?" He didn't think he had, as Harry's condition hadn't changed in fifteen days now, but the masquerade was wearing thin in a number of places and they were running out of excuses for Harry to miss Wizengamot meetings.

Luna looked up at him. "Not yet, but the potion I was waiting for is ready. Hermione, Pansy and I will be trying it out tonight."

Hermione and Pansy sat up, staring at Luna. "Why can't we use it now?"

Luna shrugged as she finished with George. "We could, but the potion is most potent at night and I thought waiting would give us the best chance of being successful in the attempt. Please remember that this potion is new and untested. If there was anything else we could do, I would be trying it."

Neville nodded. He knew exactly how many nights Luna had spent trying things with Harry's Healers, and how little sleep she'd gotten over the last two weeks. The Healers had tried everything they could think of, including some things that were merely legend or myth and nothing had worked.

This potion was their last chance to wake Harry. If this didn't work they would have to wait and hope that Harry woke up on his own. Neville shuddered at that thought. The fake Harrys might last another three days at best, but no longer than that.

He shook his head as he thought. Harry had been too rash, releasing the prophecy. Harry hadn't thought of the consequences if he was ever incapacitated. Since everyone knew that Harry Potter was the only one that could stop Voldemort, if word got out that he was in a coma, resistance to Voldemort would disappear and the Death Eaters would be able to do anything they wanted. He looked out the window, watching the sun and guessing how long they had before Hermione and Pansy would take the potion. Four, maybe five hours, he estimated.

He looked at the two girls and shook his head. This potion was desperation distilled. His musing was interrupted as several more people entered the room.

Headmistress McGonagall, Narcissa Black and Professor Flitwick sat down. The head of Gryffindor looked around. "Everyone came back this time?" she asked Neville quietly.

Neville nodded. "This time." That hadn't always been the case over the last two weeks. Charlie Weasley was in St. Mungo's and would be for another three days. At that, he was one of the lucky ones. The Windenmeres had lost three people and Fred and George's group had lost two more when they caught a group of Death Eaters trying to collapse an office building full of Muggles.

"We just came by to tell you that the wards at Hogwarts are ready for the new school year." Headmistress McGonagall studied Neville for a minute. "And to ask if Harry would be back."

Neville flinched. He started to say something but Professor McGonagall raised her hand. "I know my students, Mr. Longbottom. Harry is a good boy, very smart and braver than he should be. He is not, however, particularly well versed in our society. The person I have met with over the last two weeks was not Harry. I also notice that Mr. Longbottom is rarely in attendance on Mr. Potter."

Neville sighed. "I hope no one else has your power of observation, Professor."

Professor Flitwick looked at Neville. "It's just those of us that knew Harry well that noticed the discrepancies. I trained Harry in Charms for too many years not to notice that your wand movements aren't quite like his. Harry's wand motions are more suited to point spells. He still wants to end every spell pointing at the target, even when he doesn't have to."

Neville looked at Narcissa Black. "Have you heard anything at the parties to suggest anyone else has caught on?"

Narcissa was attempting to rebuild the social standing of the Black family, which meant an endless round of parties, soirées and brunches with the other society matrons. In the process, she was also Harry's conduit into the gossip of the higher elements of wizard society.

"Not yet," she said, "but many of them are asking when he'll have his party. Someone is trying to start a rumour that he's not going to have one because he doesn't care about the traditions." She frowned. "I'm not sure who it is yet, but I'm looking into it."

Neville looked up to find the rest of the people in the room had gathered around while he was talking to the three people. "You might as well start planning the party," said Luna. "After tonight, we'll either have Harry back or it won't matter. No one will be worried about a party."

Narcissa looked up. "What are you doing tonight?"

Luna was folding more of the paper birds she said brought her peace. "We've created a potion that will allow someone with a strong emotional bond with Harry to enter his mind using Legilimency. If it works, they will find Harry in his own mind and at least be able to tell us what he's thinking. With that much, maybe we can find a way to bring Harry back from where ever he is."

"And if it doesn't work?"

Everyone looked at Luna, waiting for her answer to Professor McGonagall's question. Luna's hands hesitated for a minute and she looked at Hermione and Pansy. "There are several possibilities. First, they won't be able to enter his mind. If they do enter his mind, they may not be able to find him. Neither of those possibilities is that bad." She went back to staring at her birds. "They could also be lost with Harry, if whatever he has done is strong enough."

Ron sat up in his chair. "You mean they'd be like Harry is now, until he released them?"

"Or until they died." Luna looked at the group. "Just remember, we're not trying this potion because we want to, but because we literally don't have any other choices at this point."

_**OoOoOoO Harry. OoOoOoO**_

Harry cursed another Death Eater as he ran around yet another corner. He didn't know how long he'd been running or where he was, but there was something in this maze he had to find. He snarled to himself. If these Death Eaters would just leave him alone for a minute he could stop and...

He ducked, rolling under the twisting red beam that came from a corridor to his left. He came out of his roll with his wand tracking on the corridor the spell had come from and was rewarded when a wand and hand came around the wall. Before the rest of the Death Eater showed himself, he reduced the hand and wand to a bloody paste with a few wood and bone splinters.

As the Death Eater howled Harry continued on, keeping the right wall within reach. After the events of his fourth year Harry had done some research into mazes. On of the simplest ways to keep from getting lost was to pick a wall and stay on it. It would either bring you to the exit or back to your starting point that way.

What was he missing? Something was missing, something he had to find.

_**OoOoOoO Hermione and Pansy, Potter Manor. OoOoOoO**_

Hermione and Pansy looked at Harry. He was laying on the bed in the Master suite, just as he had since they brought him back from the town just over two weeks ago. Hermione looked around the room. It was a very nice room normally, but the last two weeks had changed it dramatically.

The Healers had set up two long potion tables where different potions were being prepared to try and help Harry, to keep his muscles fit and keep him fed while he was unconscious. The furniture had been moved out of the room, leaving only Harry's bed and the things the healers were using. Hermione looked at the small crystal above Harry's head. It continued to glow a faint blue, as it had since the healers had set it in place.

The crystal was a type of monitor. It would change colour and chime if anything changed in Harry's condition from when it was set. Hermione frowned at it again. She's grown up under a public health system that meant everyone had access to basic care at least and she was appalled at the difference between the care she'd seen at St. Mungo's and what Harry was getting.

Not that she minded Harry getting this help, but that it wasn't available to everyone was disturbing. She had already made some notes about it so she could do something about it after Harry was back.

Pansy was watching the window. Luna had claimed that this potion would be most effective at night and when the moon was shining on Harry. Hermione, with her insistence on perfection, had made a series of marks on the window to show when they had to do certain things. The first mark was when they would take the potion. The second mark was when they would cast the spell to allow them to access Harry's mind.

If they hadn't entered his mind by the third mark, less than a centimetre from the second mark, it wasn't going to work at all.

Pansy was trying very hard to keep the consequences of failure from her mind.

The two girls watched as the moon came closer to the first mark. Neither of them spoke, but Pansy found her hand being gripped tightly by Hermione as they watched the moon creeping up the edge of Harry's bed.

The edge of the moon touched the first mark and the two girls took out the small vials the healers had given them and drank the potion. Pansy swallowed hers and made a face. "I hope we never have to do this again. That is worse than Skele-Gro."

Hermione looked at her. "When did you take that?"

Pansy looked at her but before she could say anything something happened between the two girls.

Hermione was in Pansy's mind, remembering a scene the year before she started Hogwarts. The scene was dreamlike, infused with a strangely warm feeling that Hermione recognized. Pansy had been under the Imperious at the time. Hermione/Pansy looked up into the face of Lucius Malfoy and listened as he gave her/them very explicit instructions.

Hermione forced her way out of the shared bond, looking at Pansy. Pansy was trembling and Hermione took her in an embrace. "You never said anything."

"Do you think I want Harry knowing about it? He'd lose sight of the more important goals. He has to stay focused." Hermione was still connected to Pansy and felt the deeper shame and embarrassment Pansy felt about the things she'd done for Lucius.

Hermione looked at the window, checking the marks. They still had a minute. She looked at Pansy, raising her head with one hand. "Lucius may not have paid enough. What say after this is over, you and I go pay him a visit?"

Pansy shook her head. "No. It's in the past and I want to keep it that way."

Hermione wasn't convinced but she didn't have time to argue about it right now. The potion was obviously working and the Moon was about to touch the second mark. The two girls moved over to Harry and Hermione pulled out her wand. She watched the window, feeling Pansy growing tenser as they waited. The edge of the moon touched the second mark and Hermione cast the spell she'd been practising all day.

An instant later the two girls were lying across the bed as limp as Harry was. Neither of them reacted or even noticed as the crystal above Harry's head changed to a dark red and began an insistent chiming.

_**OoOoOoO Neville and the O.W.N., the rest of the night. OoOoOoO**_

"Harry, there's a report from Japan you might want to see."

Neville looked up as he caught the tone of Shacklebolt's voice. He frowned at the disturbed look in the Auror's eyes. He followed the direction of his gaze and found the Auror staring at Luna, who was placidly doing some Luna thing with a turnip.

"What is it?" Shacklebolt handed him a sheet of parchment without a word of taking his eyes from Luna. Neville took it and began to read it.

He skipped the headings since he wasn't really Harry and got to the body of the letter.

"_As we agreed, the Malfoy person was put to work as a stable cleaner. There were a couple of problems the first few days, but he soon learned that no work meant no food and he seemed to settle into his new life."_

Neville smiled slightly of the thought of Draco cleaning stalls to eat and then continued.

"_Three days ago, the stable boy began to act quite strange, as if something was watching him. Our mages checked the area and found nothing. Special cameras that record heat were set up and still nothing was found but the stable boy continued to act as if something was watching him all the time. Nothing was found that could account for that by any means we have, magical or Muggle._

_Yesterday, the Stable boy was nearly worthless at work, as he was far more concerned about the eyes that were following him than his work. Late in the afternoon, he cried out something and ran screaming into the fields. We followed him quickly and located him quite soon._

_The stable boy had somehow managed to claw his own eyes out of his head. After doing so, he had continued to run away and had run off of a small cliff. He was dying when we found him and none of our magic could save him. His last words were a plea to "Make the Snorkacks go away." We were unsure of what he meant and assume that he was going insane for some reason."_

Neville blinked and read the letter again before looking over at Luna. She looked up from her turnip and smiled. "Harry promised I could have him, remember?" She went back to her project as Neville remembered Harry and him discussing who was going to get which Death Eater. He swallowed and looked at the letter again. He thought about asking Luna how she'd done it but quickly decided he really didn't want to know.

He was just about to set the letter aside when a sound came from Harry's room.

The healers were the first to react when the chiming started, rushing to the door of the room and disappearing inside. Luna followed them and everyone else waited tensely for some sign or report.

Thirty minutes later the two healers came out of Harry's room with Luna. The lead healer looked at all the people staring at him. "They have entered Harry's mind we think. Obviously, with no contact with them, we can't say for certain, but they are in exactly the same condition as Harry right now. All we can do now is wait."

Neville looked around. Professor McGonagall sat next to Moody and Narcissa Black. One side of the room seemed to be filled with Weasleys as Ron, Bill, Charlie and the twins sat or stood along the wall. There were a few other people waiting on word and Neville sighed heavily as he sat back down.

The entire war hung on those two girls right now. Neville began making plans for what he would do if they weren't successful in saving Harry.

_**OoOoOoO Voldemort and the Baron, Somewhere. OoOoOoO**_

"You haver fulfilled your side of the bargain. I have three magical people outside for you." Voldemort looked at the vampire, wishing his followers were have as effective as this being. He wondered for a minute if you could bind a vampire with the Dark Mark. A force of this type under his control would be a very powerful force and right now, Voldemort needed that.

Potter was up to something. His tactics had changed in the last couple of weeks and it was very confusing, almost as if someone else was running things now. Voldemort had some plans to deal with that and to flush Potter out.

He'd thought about the prophecy and knew he had an edge over Potter. The Horcruxes would insure that even if Potter somehow managed to win a duel, which was impossible, Voldemort would only be disembodied again, able to come back and fight again.

He pushed that line of thought away and looked at the vampire. "I need something else from you."

The Baron looked at Voldemort. "As long as it doesn't endanger my people unduly. I will be able to challenge for the territory I want now, but only if my forces stay strong."

Voldemort smiled cruelly. "I don't want your people to do anything to risk themselves. I merely want you to turn one newly turned vampire loose, with no controls or teaching them anything."

"No." The Baron watched as Voldemort's eyes flared his face twisted in anger at that blunt refusal. "I will not do such a thing. The vampires of Britain only survive because no one but a few hunters bothers to look for us on a regular basis. If we let loose an abomination like that on the people, we would be declaring war on the humans and they would hunt us. Not to mention the other vampires would hunt us down and sent our heads to the humans. You may one day have to power to protect us if we did such a thing, but right now, even you could not stop a hundred or more vampires."

"Can't you make look like the actions of your enemy?"

"To humans and even to wizards, I could. The first vampire to come along would know who turned that creature in an instant, as soon as they came in scent range. I will not ruin the coven I have spent fifteen decades building on something I have no chance of winning."

Voldemort nodded, realizing that he couldn't now force this creature to do his bidding. That would change one day, but … His chain of thought was disrupted as he thought of something. "But you could turn any human I sent to you, correct?"

The Baron nodded slowly. "Of course I could. It takes three nights of blood letting and a fourth night, for the new Vampire to rise and then a month of controlled teaching before they are safe to be let loose, but anyone can be turned."

Voldemort smiled cruelly. "I will be bringing you a very special person. I want them turned and taught. When they are ready, I will be back for this one."

The Baron watched Voldemort leave and thought about that thing. It was getting harder and harder to ignore the scent of death around that being. When Voldemort had still been human, before he was killed by Harry Potter in 1981, he'd smelled normal for a wizard. Since his return, he smelled like a dead thing and the longer he walked in that body, the more like a dead thing he smelled.

The Baron considered his options carefully. Voldemort had been at the apex of his power when they started working together, but now, this Potter boy was making massive inroads on Voldemort's people and power.

He looked toward the caves where his coven waited and a few minutes later one of his people entered. "You called and I answer."

"Voldemort is asking for things that are likely to be dangerous to all of us, not just this coven. It may be time to open negotiations with Potter."

His underling looked up at him and thought about it. "Why not the Ministry, Baron? We have always dealt with them before."

"We have, but this Potter, he will be the future of the Wizard world. I wish to see this Harry Potter myself, to see what the future holds if the winds of change continue to blow as they are."

The woman nodded slowly. "What do you wish of me?"

The Baron was looking at something in the distance. "You will find a way to open talks with Potter. We will not offer any help, but we will offer to remain neutral."

"What if he will not go for that?"

The Baron raised an eyebrow. "Then we will continue as we always have, making the best deals for us and our people. Before we go down that path though, I will consent to meet with Potter. I want to see this man that has thrown the Wizard world into such turmoil. I want to know the smell of his blood."

_**OoOoOoO The Wizard World. OoOoOoO**_

Auror John Reynolds looked around Diagon Alley as his people continued their patrol. The shops were busy and people walked around. He rubbed his grey hair and contrasted this day to the earlier days of Voldemort's first war. The people were nervous, but there wasn't nearly the fear that he remembered. Many people were openly carrying wands and some sort of personal weapon as well, mostly crossbows and bows.

He shook his head. Harry Potter had shown people that they could fight back, that they didn't have to knuckle under to the Death Eaters and it was beginning to make itself felt in other ways. Many people were openly questioning the actions of people in the Ministry and writing letter demanding action on a dozen things.

Madame Umbridge was in Azkaban for abuse of power among other charges that had come to light recently and before she had gone, she had made a deal for a lighter sentence.

Nearly forty years of blackmail, bribery, chicanery and abuses had come out. Madame Umbridge hadn't been responsible for all of them, but she'd spent a lot of time collecting information on almost everyone that might be able to help her career or hinder her climb to power and by the time she was done talking, the entire Ministry was in a state of upheaval.

Scrimgeour was still the Minister, but that was mostly because no one with any sense wanted the job right now. Almost every department was under some sort of investigation and some of them were going to have to be rebuilt from the ground up.

He shook his head as he thought about the Department of Under-age Magic and the results of using Veritaserum on the entire department. Almost half of them had been involved in something that was going to send them to Azkaban for life, if the public didn't storm the Ministry building and simply kill them.

Hopkirk and her friends had been using the department for something besides regulating under-age magic for nearly twenty years. They had been using the monitors to track accidental magic in under age Muggleborns and sending the names to several people, most of whom had disappeared.

So far, more than a thousand deaths of under age children could be laid at their door.

With that scandal, the Minister had decreed that every member of the Ministry would be questioned under Veritaserum to determine if they had been helping the Death Eaters or abusing their power in other ways.

The day after he'd decreed that, nearly a third of the Ministry workers had simply not come into work. Reynolds had been appalled when it turned out that a quarter of the Aurors had not come back to work either.

The Minister had put every Ministry worker that hadn't shown up on an arrest list and there were standing instructions to pick up any of them that people could find. He'd also posted a reward for anyone that turned any of them into the Aurors or made a report that resulted in a capture.

Reynolds had been a desk worker because of his advancing age until this happened. He'd been put back in charge of a patrol unit because he had come out of the his questioning clean and he had the experience.

The Floo people had been found to be operating more than thirty unregulated Floo sites and not reporting dozens of Floo passages each month. It turned out, after questioning, that Voldemort had his fingers deeply into that department as well, allowing his Death Eaters to have access to almost every place the Floo went without restriction.

When that news hit the public, they had been angered and then outraged. There were daily calls for the deaths of everyone involved and the Wizengamot was even now debating new rules to make sure nothing even close to this happened again.

Reynolds looked at the entrance to Knockturn Alley and grinned. The Alley had been an eyesore and the most dangerous place in Diagon Alley until those reports surfaced. Two days later, the Alley had been invaded by a mob of angry citizens who had burned out Borgia's and a dozen other shops before control had established by a mixed force or Aurors and Potter's people.

The only way that they had managed to regain control was to promise to look at and into every single shop. It had taken four days to search the entire alley, but some of Potter's people had made it easier. Moody's eye might be unnerving, but it was perfect for that type of work and while Reynolds was certain some things had been taken out of the alley, he was certain that there wasn't a dark thing in the alley anywhere now. With the bad elements out of there, some smaller businesses were moving in and within a few months, Knockturn Alley's bad reputation would be just another memory of another time.

He smirked as he thought of something few people knew. A solicitor, one N. Sharpstar, had bought every empty shop in the alley for next to nothing, since the previous owners were not going to be able to reopen. Reynolds didn't know who owned the Shades of Grey company, but whoever the owners were, they were going to make a lot of money. The Bludger, Harry Potter's paper had openly purchased the first building in the Alley and were running offices there.

With Potter's people controlling the open access to Knockturn Alley and oh so casually walking the length of the Alley every thirty minutes, it was fast becoming one of the safest places in the country.

He paused for a second, as he always did to watch the crowd around the statue Harry Potter had erected in the middle of Diagon Alley after the battle there. Since the battle, the statue was fast becoming one of the main attractions of the Alley. People came from all over the place to look at it, to stop and feel the magic that made a person feel the emotions of the ones that protected them.

No few flowers and small mementos lay at the base of it and Reynolds checked them out with a flick of his wand. The Death Eaters had twice tried to plant curses there, designed to afflict anyone coming close to them. They hadn't worked and no one was quite certain why.

He looked at it, and felt the presence of Harry Potter watching over them again. He'd felt it every time he came by here, although some of the older people said it felt like Albus Dumbledore. Strangely, most of the Aurors felt Potter rather than Dumbledore, no matter how old they were. He looked at the friends he saw when he looked at the statue, mostly Aurors that had died in the line of duty and sighed He saluted the statue and smiled softly when his Aurors followed suit before following him down the Alley.

He wasn't certain where Harry Potter was going to take the Wizard world, but he did believe it would be an improvement.

_**OoOoOoO**_

"Damn that Potter to the deepest pit in hell."

One of the others sitting in the room looked up. "I'd be careful about allowing anyone to know you have that opinion. No one here is going to say anything, but cursing Potter publicly these days is as much as saying you're a Death Eater."

The first speaker spun. "As if I would follow that freak. It's not even human anymore, let alone a Pureblood."

The group nodded in agreement. "So, what do we do now? Potter's paper and the things he's done are fast pushing those of us that believe in the true path of Wizards to the rear."

"We can't kill Potter, but that doesn't mean we can't hurt him." The man that had cursed Potter began to slowly pace around the table. "Potter and Riddle can't be killed by anyone but each other and they will meet sooner or later. We need to make sure that after the prophecy is over, we're in place to insure that we can prevent the loss of Pureblood privileges. With those two gone, the sheep will soon go back to grazing peacefully."

"What do you mean, those two? One of them will win and still be here to make waves."

"Not if we kill the survivor after the prophecy is over."

Six men who had never held any office in the Ministry, whose names never appeared in print, but who had controlled most of the Wizard world for decades began to make plans to insure that they kept the power no one knew they had.

_**OoOoOoO**_

"I dinna care who they is. Potter and his army is doing good tings for us, all of us."

There were murmurs of agreement from the other patrons of the pub. The person being addressed snorted. "Right now they are, yeah. But at least a few of them are Slytherins and we all know about that house. And that's without even saying anything about those Windenmeres he's dealing with. Those are some very strange people and they've got no morals at all."

A few heads nodded in agreement with that. Everyone knew that Slytherins were bad, it had been that way for at least fifty years. The Windenmeres were different as well.

The man who had been defending Potter stood up and glared at them. "Any o yous here ever met a Windenmere?" he demanded. When no one admitted to having met them he snorted. "None of yous has met one, but you know all about dem how? They ain't no books, they don't talk and yous don't know any o dem."

He looked around. "maybe they is strange an maybe they ain't. All I know is dat they backin Potter an Harry Potter is backin all us little people, the ones dat can't give Galleons to elect people. That makes them good folk in my book and I dare anyone to prove udderways." He looked around defiantly and sat back down to drink some more.

A few minutes later a hooded figure slipped out the back door from the shadowed corner he'd been sitting in He Apparated away and found his contact in the usual spot. He reported on the mood of the tavern and the comments. His contact listened and asked a few questions before handed him a small sack that clinked with the sound of gold. He was given the name of another tavern to drop in on the next night and he left again.

His contact piled the notes he'd made with the notes from nineteen others and gave the entire bundle to a large black owl that was soon winging its way to somewhere else.

He thought about it and smiled. The Windenmere association with Harry Potter was already showing benefits, if even some of the regular people that made up the Wizard world were beginning to give them the benefit of the doubt.

He made sure that everything was put away and no trace of anything that could be connected to the Windenmeres was left behind as he had been doing for three years now. Annie would be heading for bed soon and since they wanted a child, he should be there.

_**OoOoOoO**_

"We've got it."

The people looked up as the Witch spoke and the mood in the room sharpened. The older Witch sitting behind the large desk stood up and crossed the room to stand beside her. "Are you certain?"

The younger Witch handed her a sheet of notes. "I would be willing to try it tonight, on any of the items in question."

The older Witch perused the sheet she'd been handed and smiled. "Good work. Now, make copies. As soon as everyone has looked it over and we agree, we can pass this to Mr. Potter." She looked at the younger Witch. "I will personally make sure Mr. Potter knows your name."

In a few minutes, twenty people were reading the description of the ritual needed to destroy a Horcrux without destroying the vessel it was contained in.

Mrs. Warrington was behind her desk again, smiling slightly. She'd been working on this for over a month, using books from Hogwarts, the Black Library, the Windenmeres and some that had been 'liberated' from the various places Moody had been destroying among other places. Three shifts of twenty people had been working around the clock, making this the most intensive project she'd ever worked on.

She frowned as she looked at her to do list again. Somehow, they would have to keep the various cursed items and Dark magic things away from Mr. Potter until they could convince him that simply having them wasn't bad.

They didn't have to be used to radiate magic and that magic could be used to power wards and other protections around a Wizard home. Over the last few weeks, since they had been collecting these things, they'd amassed enough of them to protect at least a dozen estates.

She sighed as she remembered having a conversation with one of her people about this very topic. She sat back and began to think about the problem before her.

_**OoOoOoO**_

"What do you mean, we've got problems?"

"Someone told Mr. Potter that someone has been answering his fan mail, or at least some of it and he's got people digging into where his fan mail goes."

The two women looked at each other and the blonde one sighed. "I'll send him an owl in the morning. We knew this day was going to come sooner or later."

_**OoOoOoO**_

Grabhand stared at the Goblin that stood in front of his desk. "Are you certain of this?"

"It has been confirmed, Grabhand. Harry Potter used the free House Elf Dobby as a Secret Keeper for the Fidelius that protects his families."

Grabhand sent the other goblin away and sat back to think. He was certain now, that Harry Potter was the wizard the Goblins wanted to back. He wrote a short note and put it in the box on his desk. A few minutes later the box flashed and he removed the sheet that was in it and looked at it.

Four minutes after that he was knocking on another door. He entered when he was told to and came to a stop before another Goblin's desk, one that was even larger than his. The Goblin behind the desk looked at him. "Convince me. If you fail, you'll be a cart boy for the rest of your life."

Grabhand pulled his first sheet from the stack he'd brought with him. "Harry Potter was born July 31st, 1980." He went on, detailing everything he'd been able to learn about Harry Potter.

This had better work, or his wife was going to feed him to a dragon.

_**OoOoOoO**_

"Potter San has answered our letter and invited one of us to come and explain everything to him."

The Daimyo nodded. "You will send Nobusuke Kitasato to Potter San. He has permission to act in my name. Draw up the papers and bring them for my chop."

"It will be done."

_**OoOoOoO**_

"This Harry Potter is of age, is he not?"

"Yes Sir."

"He seems to be a decent sort. He'll be far better in the Conference than that idiot Britain replaced Albus Dumbledore with. Send a letter to the British Minister of Magic suggesting the change. Don't forget to include that information that Potter's solicitor asked for."

The new Supreme Mugwump shook his head. "How the British Ministry of Magic could believe anyone could be Imperio'ed into accepting that Mark is beyond me. Make sure you send the results of your work to Mr. Potter as well."

"Yes Sir."

_**OoOoOoO**_

Voldemort was thinking as he left the Baron. It wouldn't be hard to get Potter to show up somewhere, anywhere Voldemort was willing to duel. All he'd have to do would be grab a few people and threaten to kill them on the spot.

He frowned as he realized that he was near the cave that he'd hidden Slytherin's locket in. He might as well check it since he was here and alone.

He Apparated to the cave and snarled before he even entered it. The wards were disturbed and something was wrong. Ten minutes later he stood in front of the basin and stared at it in fury. The poison was gone, the locket was gone and Albus' touch was all over the cavern.

An hour later he was pacing up and down in his library and swearing to himself. The ring was gone, the locket was gone, in fact, every Horcrux he could get to was missing. He couldn't find a single trace of any of them.

The only Horcrux he could count on was the one in Nagini, and that one was only safe as long as Voldemort kept the snake safe.

He knew three were gone, either missing or destroyed and he cursed again as he thought of Lucius allowing Potter to destroy the Diary. That only left three that he could possibly reacquire. Hufflepuff's cup should still be in the Lestrange vault, Nagini was with him and the Ravenclaw diadem should still be hidden in Hogwarts.

He'd have to get his spy to get that one and bring it back to him. No, that would never work. He couldn't let anyone know just how important that thing was to him.

This turn of events though, made it imperative that he destroy Potter as soon as possible. He had to kill Potter now, before someone found a way to destroy them. After an hour of thought his fury was unabated and he went to the cells where they kept Muggles that stumbled on their hidden retreat.

Inflicting a lot of pain was always soothing.

_**OoOoOoO Hermione, Pansy and Harry, Harry's mind. OoOoOoO**_

Hermione blinked, staring around her with a disbelieving look. She was standing in the Gryffindor common room.

She thought at first she was imagining things but she quickly realized that there were some things wrong with it. First was the huge bearskin rug in front of the fireplace that had never been in the common room that she knew.

Second were the Gryffindors doing things. Fred and George weren't even in Hogwarts anymore, and Ginny wasn't.. she shied away from that thought as she watched Fred and George teasing Ron about something while Ginny nibbled on a quill, reading a book and making notes.

She was a little disturbed to see herself curled up in a chair and reading something, some very large and thick book.

"Is this really what your common room looks like?" Hermione turned to see Pansy looking around.

"Pretty much," Hermione said, "except for that rug."

Pansy looked at the bearskin rug and frowned. "You know what that is, don't you? Harry promised Ginny a bearskin rug once, remember?"

Hermione remembered that conversation well. She looked around curiously. "I see everyone here except Harry. Where is he?"

Pansy shrugged. "I guess we should check the boy's room."

Hermione looked at her. "How much of that is your curiosity about Harry's room?"

Pansy frowned at her. "Very, very little. I want Harry back as much as you do. We need him."

Hermione flushed and led Pansy up the stairs. They were back downstairs quickly. "If he's not in Gryffindor Tower, where is he?"

Hermione was looking at the door out of the tower thoughtfully. "If he's not here, I suppose he has to be somewhere else. Come on."

They left the tower and Hermione looked around. It was Hogwarts, but it was different. It seemed somehow brighter and more magical.

Pansy and Hermione looked around and over the edge where the staircases were moving. "Is this how Harry sees Hogwarts?" asked Pansy.

"I think so," Hermione said as she started down the stairs. "You know what the Dursleys were like. When Harry came here, to a world of magic, where he wasn't abused or beaten, where he could eat as much as he wanted, it must have been a bit of heaven."

Pansy thought about it as they went downstairs. "I wonder what it would be like to see the world from Harry's point of view."

Hermione reached the bottom of the stairs and looked around. She headed for the Great Hall.

They stopped inside the Great Hall and looked around. "This is the welcoming feast from second year." Hermione said after looking around.

Pansy nodded. "Did you see the staff table?"

Hermione nodded as she looked up to the front of room. Albus Dumbledore sat in his place in the centre of the staff table and Hagrid was at one end. The rest of the staff, even Professor Trelaney sat along the table. Some of them, the teachers Harry didn't know well were hazy, with details missing or grey areas in them. The ones Harry did know well were sharp, focused, with some characteristics exaggerated. Hagrid had a small dragon that Hermione recognized as Norbert climbing on his shoulder and he was half again as big as he was in life.

Professor McGonagall was her normal self, except that she seemed somehow friendly instead of her more usual unapproachable appearance.

Hermione looked at Snape. He was a mass of shadows and billowing darkness, as if he'd managed to pull the night around him to act like robes. His face was the same except for his eyes. In their place, the red eyes of Voldemort looked out over the tables.

"Harry really sees us like that?" Hermione looked at Pansy and followed her gaze over to the Slytherin table.

Most of the Slytherins had scared looks, and sheep like faces as they all watched Draco and his friends laughing. A few stood out, including Pansy, who was slightly mouse like as she hid behind Draco. Blaise and Daphne sat at the end of the table and were completely oblivious to everything around them, lost in their own little world.

Draco, Nott and the rest of his cronies were dressed in black and had Death Eater masks hanging from their belts.

"I wonder what this scene would look like from your point of view," Hermione mused.

"Or yours," Pansy parried. "I wonder if even Harry knows how he looks at us in his subconscious mind."

"I doubt it, or it wouldn't be subconscious," Hermione said. "But Harry's not here. Let's check the Quidditch Pitch first."

The two girls headed for the front doors. As they got there, they stopped to watch Filch chasing a flying speck of dirt with a mop and had to smile.

The smiles disappeared as they stepped outside and the doors slammed shut behind them. They looked out over the grounds and then at each other. "The third task," Pansy whispered.

The Quidditch Pitch was gone and there was a maze there, just as there had been during the final task, but this maze was different. It was far larger and darker, with things from a nightmare wandering in it, Dementors flying overhead and the stands were filled with Death Eaters.

Hermione shivered as she looked at the horizon. There were thick black clouds roiling and filling the sky above the Forbidden Forest. In the middle of the clouds was Voldemort, appearing as big as any giant and radiating evil. Little streamers of shadow came from him continuously, touching and swallowing anything they came in contact with.

Hermione's attention went back to the maze as a red coloured spell shot out of it. "That's where Harry is," said Hermione and she started that way.

"Are you sure?" asked Pansy dubiously. "I would hate to caught up in that and find out he was somewhere else.

"Pansy, have you seen any other fighting since we got here?"

"No."

"Where else would Harry be but in the middle of the fighting? He always get caught up in it, even if it's not his fault."

Pansy had to agree with that. The two girls found the entrance to the maze and stopped, looking into the maze. There was nothing to see though as some sort of mist or haze covered the entrance.

"Are you ready?"

Pansy looked at Hermione incredulously. "Are you asking if I really want to step inside?"

Hermione flicked a glance at her. "Harry's in there." She smiled softly then. "Don't you ever tell the boys this, but after the fear is over, most of the time, these things are sort of fun to remember."

Pansy stared at Hermione in disbelief. "I was wrong. You're a bigger Gryffindor than Harry."

Hermione shrugged and the two girls stepped into the mist.

Harry used the 'Concussio' spell and watched as the what-ever-it-was was flipped end for end and lay still. What ever that thing was, he was sure that Hagrid would love it. Hagrid liked big and dangerous and that thing had teeth, claws, not one but two stingers, and just to make it complete, it spit poison.

He was just rounding the corner when the wheezing lump gave up the struggle to live. He heard it stop breathing and a second later a huge blast flung him to the floor as bits of what ever it was came raining down.

Now that was just overkill.

He was about to start down the passage he'd been following when a scream broke the air. Harry's eyes lit with an inner fire as he turned back the way he'd come. He'd heard that scream before.

He came around a corner into an intersection and nearly ran into the back end of another of those whatevers.

"Harry!" Harry ducked under the thing, casting a 'Reducto' at the rearmost stringer before it could impale him.

He scrambled to avoid be stepped on and ended up against the wall next to Hermione. He risked a quick glance at her leg, where her pants leg was torn and blood was seeping out. Hermione was trying to to use a field healing spell they'd learned in the Inferno on it while keeping an eye on Pansy. "Help Pansy."

Harry looked again and nodded. The injury wasn't that serious and Pansy needed him more than Hermione right now. He got up and ducked under a claw to join Pansy. "What is this thing, Harry? How do we kill it?"

"I don't know, and carefully, since it explodes when it dies."

Pansy frowned at him. "We'll be having words about this, Harry."

Harry was trying to target the thing's legs with Reducto curses, figuring that it couldn't chase them if it couldn't move. He saw the jaws working and pulled Pansy to the side as it spit a greenish glob of goo at where she'd been standing an instant before. "By the way," he said absently, as he used a cutting charm to remove the left side claw, "it spits poison."

Pansy just started trying to remove the legs on the other side without comment, at least not any Harry could hear. He was fairly certain that he didn't want to know what she was muttering between spells.

A few seconds later the thing was disabled and Harry hugged Pansy shortly before crossing to Hermione and hugging her as well. "What are you two doing here?"

Hermione frowned at him. "Harry, where are we?"

Harry blinked and frowned. "We're..." he trailed off. "I don't know."

Hermione looked around, searching for the towers of Hogwarts, which should have been easily seen. There was nothing above the maze except more of the haze that had covered the entrance.

Harry suddenly pushed them both as a twisting red beam they all recognized lanced by. Harry was returning fire before either of the girls could even find the enemy. They watched as Harry used some spell to send the Death Eater that had come around a corner flying back into the wall and then used the ribbon cutting charm to remove his head.

"Come on, if you stand still too long, they start to come in twos and threes."

"Harry, this way." Hermione pointed down one corridor. Harry shrugged and started the way she'd pointed.

"Do you know how to get to the centre of the maze, Hermione?"

Hermione and Pansy were looking at Harry oddly. He wasn't sad or hurting, just determined as far as they could tell. "Harry, why are you trying to get to the centre?" Hermione asked him.

"There's something there, something I have to find."

Pansy and Hermione looked at each other. "Harry, what's the last thing you remember before entering the maze?"

Harry hesitated for a minute. "I'm not sure." He thought for a minute as he kept walking. "There was an attack of some kind, werewolves, I think." He stopped and looked at them. "What happened?"

Hermione sighed. Harry didn't want to remember, he'd blocked it out of his mind but they would have to tell him. She caught a movement out of the corner of her eye and spun, tracking her wand on the whatever creature as it came out of a corridor.

"Reducto."

"Reducto."

"Concussio."

Harry and Pansy had tried to cut it's legs out from under it, but Hermione didn't know what happened when it died and she'd used the more damaging spell.

Harry gathered them both in his arms, turning to present his back as it exploded, sending pieces in all directions.

Hermione looked at the blood and other things splattered other them all and then at the other two. "Would it have killed you to warn me about that?"

Harry looked abashed. "Oops?"

Hermione sighed and started down the path again. Harry and Pansy followed her until she stopped suddenly. "Why are we following the paths? Harry, do what ever you did to the Inferno maze when Moody made you guard Fleur."

Harry blinked and then swore. "I never even thought about that." He looked at the wall and the two girls could see him trying to call up his power. After a few seconds, he relaxed. "It's not working."

"Figures. Any Slytherin knows you can't depend on a Gryffindor." Pansy's voice was pure acid and Harry's eyes blazed. He snarled and threw his hands out. A white hot flame a metre across came from his hands and cut through the maze walls with ease.

Pansy blinked the spots out of her eyes to find Harry glaring at her. "I'm sorry, Harry, but it worked."

Hermione looked at the hole Harry's magic had torn in the walls and saw that they were just two corridors from the outside. "Make up later, you two. Let's get out of here before there are more of those things."

Harry hesitated. "But there's something in the middle I need to find."

Hermione sighed. "Do you have to go through the maze? Wouldn't it be easier to fly over it and drop into the centre?"

Harry started toward the outside as he smiled. "No reason that I know."

A few minutes later they were looking at the maze from the outside. Harry looked around and started toward the Quidditch shed. "Come on, we can get the school brooms."

"Harry, wait a minute."

He stopped and looked at them. "What?"

Hermione and Pansy looked at each other, unsure of how to tell Harry that he wouldn't be able to find what he was missing. Harry looked at them and saw the strain on them. He came closer and touched Hermione's cheek. "What's wrong?"

Hermione sighed. "Harry, what happened during the attack?"

Harry frowned, looking toward the shed. "Harry, please. Think about it."

Harry looked at her and thought. "A bunch of werewolves came from the forest and we were fighting them. Then Ron reported more werewolves in the town and we went there." He hesitated. I don't remember what happened next."

Hermione and Pansy put their arms around Harry. "Harry, we went into the town and we were fighting. Ginny was on her broom and flew into a house."

Harry stiffened at the first mention of Ginny's name. "She was hurt, I saw that, but I..." He looked at Hermione. "I didn't heal her, did I?"

Hermione's throat was too tight to speak and she shook her head as the tears began.

Harry put his arms around the girls the three of them comforted each other, all of them mourning the vivacious girl they'd loved in their own ways.

Some time later Harry pulled away from the girls. "What happened to the maze?"

The two girls looked around, seeing that the Quidditch pitch was back to its normal appearance. "You didn't need it any more, Harry so it's gone."

Harry stared at her in confusion. "Huh?"

"Harry, this is your mind, or part of it. We came in to find you using a potion and a spell."

Harry blinked. "My mind? Why?"

"Harry, the fight was two weeks ago. You've been unconscious for that long and we had to bring you back."

Harry stiffened. "Two weeks? But what about."

Hermione interrupted him. "Harry, we'll fill you in after we are back in our own bodies, OK?"

Harry nodded and watched them. "How are you getting back, anyway?"

Hermione smiled at him. "That's your job, Harry. You have to use the Occlumency you've learned. As you bring your Occlumency shields up, we should be sent back to our bodies as we're thrust out of your mind. After that, you should wake normally."

Harry nodded in comprehension. He took a deep breath and concentrated as he'd been taught.

Hermione and Pansy were there one minute and gone the next. Harry nodded and went to Gryffindor Tower, certain that when he woke, he'd be fine.

Hermione had told so, after all.

_**OoOoOoO Hermione and Pansy. OoOoOoO**_

Pansy woke up first and sat up, rubbing her temples. _"I wish someone had told me that being pushed out of Harry's mind would hurt this much."_ She looked at Hermione who was stirring slightly. "Hermione, are you OK?"

Hermione winced, and opened her eyes. "I will be if you keep it down. I have a headache the size of the astronomy tower."

They both looked at Harry then. "Should we wake him?" Pansy asked.

"No. Let him wake normally. First, he might need the rest if he's been in that maze for two weeks and second, if he wakes now, three hundred people are going to bust in here making all sorts of noise."

Pansy winced at that thought and crawled carefully up next to Harry. "Then I'm going to try and sleep off this headache."

Hermione crawled up on the other side of Harry and soon the three of them were as still as they had been before.

Luna came out of the corner and looked at the two girls before waving her wand over Harry. Satisfied with whatever the spell told her she touched each of the girls gently with her wand and turned toward the door.

Outside the door she looked at all the people standing or sitting around. "They seem to be sleeping normally. They should wake up in the morning."

Neville sat up. "Are you sure?"

Luna shrugged. "Of course not. A Nargle could eat them tonight."

Ron grinned. "Luna, if a Nargle doesn't eat them, will they all wake up in the morning?"

"Of course they will."

_**OoOoOoO Harry, 15AUG97. OoOoOoO**_

Harry woke slowly and turned over, weeks of habit making him sweep the bushy hair aside before he got a face full of it. He vaguely felt Pansy snuggling closer behind him as he stretched slowly.

He froze then as his mind caught up and he realized that Ginny wouldn't be joining them this morning or any morning.

He sat up, or tried to but the two girls in bed with him wouldn't let him unless he struggled harder than he was willing to do.

Pansy leaned over him and kissed him, just as she'd been doing since they started sleeping together. He responded automatically.

When Pansy was done Hermione took her place and kissed him. By the time they were both done, they were draped over him and each other in a position they'd shared many times.

"Harry," Hermione said softly, "Ginny wouldn't want you to change. We've always woke up together and talked before we went out to face the others."

"And we do have quite a bit to talk about this morning," Pansy said.

Harry closed his eyes. "I don't care right now. You've had time to become accustomed to her being gone. I haven't."

Pansy moved around and sat on Harry, looking down on him. "I know, Harry. And when we're alone like this, Hermione and I will help you grieve. But, out there, beyond these walls, you can't let anyone know that you've been sleeping for all this time."

Harry frowned. "Why not? How could they not have noticed..." His voice trailed off and he frowned. "You've had someone pretending to be me."

"Three someones, actually. Neville, Tonks and Remus have been taking turns when ever one of them could skip an event. But you're going to be extremely busy for a few days."

Harry sighed. "Tell me what's been going on."

Hermione began telling him about everything he'd been missing. Pansy added a few details here and there, but for the next hour, Harry listened to Hermione.

Harry sat up as she was talking about the Ministry. "They were what?"

Pansy and Hermione wrapped their arms around Harry. "Calm down, Harry. It's already been stopped and measures are in place to insure it never happens again." Harry was glaring and his magic was growing again. Hermione and Pansy spent a few minutes calming him before they continued telling him about the changes of the last two weeks.

They were detailing the last couple of attacks when the door opened and Luna came in. "Good morning, Harry, Hermione, Pansy. Did you have a nice nap, Harry?"

"I understand I owe you my thanks, Luna."

"Later, Harry. Right now, I believe that there are a lot of people waiting to see you and you might want to get dressed before going out there."

Harry got up and nearly fell over. "What the?" he said. "I don't feel right."

Hermione stood up and Harry blinked. He'd been a little taller than Hermione two weeks ago, but now he was nearly nine centimetres taller than she was. Hermione and Pansy looked at him, as puzzled as he was. Luna looked at him. "I thought that might happen."

The three of them turned to look at her. "Luna, what did you do, exactly?" Hermione demanded.

"In the course of examining Harry, I discovered that he'd been malnourished during certain critical periods of his development. I simply made sure that the same potions that kept him nourished during his nap would correct that as much as possible. Without Harry using any energy running around and doing things, most of the potion went to correcting as much of the problem as possible. Harry will never be what he would have been, but he's as close as he'll ever be now."

Harry took a step, and then walked around the room. "It will take a couple of days to adjust to your body's new centre of balance, but you should be back to normal by the time you have to face Moody again."

Harry was trying to get his pants on but they were a good four centimetres short and too tight in the thigh area. Pansy smirked and used her wand on them until they fit the way they had before.

Harry finished dressing and slid his wand into the wrist holster. "Ladies, shall we go?"

Harry opened the door and was met with silence for a minute, long enough for him to realize just how many people were waiting for him.

Tonks and Katie were the two closest to the door and they were the first to greet Harry with hugs, but they were only the beginning as everyone in the room tried to hug, shake hands with or otherwise touch Harry while they all said different things to him.

It took some time to restore order, but finally everyone was calm enough for Harry to make himself heard. "I understand that you have picked up in my absence and continued on. I owe all of you my thanks." He cleared his throat, blinking rapidly. "I will remember it."

Pansy pulled on his hand. "Come on Harry, you need some solid food and then Hermione and I are taking you some place. Everyone else has things to do today, but we are going somewhere."

Harry allowed Pansy to pull him toward the dining room. "Where are we going?"

Pansy wormed her way under his arm as Hermione came up on his other side and put an arm around him. "We thought you might want some privacy to say goodbye to Ginny."

Harry shivered. "Do I have to?"

Hermione stopped him and hugged him. "Yes, Harry."

Harry barely reached the dining room before Dobby was there. "Harry Potter Sir is up again. I knew you would be. Dobby will be bringing your food."

Harry stared at the calm House Elf, contrasting this being with the one he'd freed. Hermione saw his look and explained. "Boody, the one that used to run the estate died, Harry. As your personal House Elf, Dobby was the one that had to take over and he's been growing intro the role."

Harry sat down and his food was just there in front of him before he'd even gotten completely in his seat. He looked at it and blinked. "Dobby," he called.

"Yes, Harry Potter sir?"

Harry looked at Dobby and smiled. "I understand you are in charge of my estate now."

"Dobby is, Harry Potter Sir. Is there something you want done, Harry Potter Sir?"

Harry held out his hand. "There is, Dobby. I want to thank you for your work."

Dobby looked at Harry's hand and reached for it slowly. "Harry Potter is greatest wizard ever."

Harry shook Dobby's hand and asked how Winky was. Dobby showed a flash of his old self as he told Harry about Winky and her pregnancy. Harry listened while he ate, until Dobby had to go and settle some House Elf thing.

He looked at the two girls eating with him and down the long table. "Where is everyone else?"

Hermione and Pansy looked at the ceiling. Harry watched them in silence for a minute until Hermione broke. "They seem to have lost the dining room, Harry. They'll be able to find it if there's a serious emergency or after we're gone. Pansy and I wanted some private time with you."

Harry nodded and went back to eating. He was having to pay some attention to his motions. He'd almost stabbed his lip with his first bite. He made a couple of minor errors in reaching for things and he winced. If Voldemort or any Death Eaters attacked today, he'd be in trouble.

_**OoOoOoO Harry, Ginny's Grave. OoOoOoO**_

Hermione and Pansy had shown Harry the grave and gone quietly up the hill to wait for him there. Harry had stared at the stone for a second and then sank to his knees.

"What am I going to do, Ginny? All of my plans have included you." Harry let the tears run down his face as he talked to his first love. "I was blind for so long, seeing only the little sister with a crush." He smiled slightly. "You had to shock me seriously, that summer in Sirius' house before you became a person in your own right."

Harry closed his eyes. "Our time was too short. A lifetime wouldn't have been enough with you."

He looked at the grave again. "I know this, though." Harry's eyes were a deep green, with an unsettled fey look to them that would have made anyone nervous, if anyone could see them.

"Voldemort and his people are going to regret this."

Harry sat there for a bit longer and then looked at the grave. He put his hands down and called up images of Ginny. Her face as she played Quidditch. The look she'd had as he asked her to marry him, the look she'd had after their first kiss. He called up every thing he'd loved about her and then pushed it into his hands, visualizing what he wanted.

Harry stood up and looked at the changes he'd made to the grave. Around the headstone were were four Orchids, Ginny's favourite flower. These flowers though, would never stop blooming and couldn't be plucked. "You'll always have flowers, Love." Harry looked down at the grave again. "I'll be back, when ever I can, and one of these days, I'll be able to tell you that Voldemort's gone." Harry stepped back and looked at the grave one more time.

"Goodbye, Ginny."

He walked slowly up the hill to where the other two girls waited for him. He looked out over the small hill. Hermione and Pansy moved up on each side and each of them took one of his hands. Harry looked back at Miranda, who was as unobtrusive as always. She nodded and Harry looked forward. "I believe we have things to do."

Hermione nodded silently and pulled a string from her pocket. The four of them took a hold of it and an instant later the dead were the only ones on the hill.

Harry sat in his office at the Department of Magical Warfare and cursed silently. If he'd known just how much paperwork this office had, he'd have told the Minister to sod off.

Auror Fairwater had known about the deception and she had been carefully holding all the various papers that absolutely had to have his signature. She had been good enough to separate the things into three piles. The important ones that had to be signed as soon as possible, the ones that he had to make a decision on before signing and the routine stuff that was the result of any organization made up of people. Those papers she gave him a quick briefing on and he signed them all without reading them. Harry was new enough to government work to wonder why he was included on the list of people that had to know that the supply closets required an inventory, since his Department didn't even have a supply closet.

He'd been in the office almost three hours when Auror Fairwater came in. "Sir, there are two men here to see you."

Harry looked up from the pile of papers in front of him. "Are they here to burn the paperwork?" he asked hopefully.

"No Sir, they're here to administer the Veritaserum."

Harry shrugged. "You said it would take about five minutes, correct?"

"Yes Sir."

"Bring them in."

The two men entered, following Auror Fairwater. "Lord Black, I apologise for this, but the new rules require it. I am Auror Masters and this is Auror Madison."

Harry looked at the two elderly Wizards. "It's not a problem, gentlemen. Do you have any problems with my assistant staying in the room? There are a few things I cannot answer."

Auror Masters shook his head. "Of course not, Lord Black."

Auror Masters took out a small bottle and carefully gave Harry three drops of the clear fluid. He waited a minute and asked Harry for his full name.

"Baron Harry Potter, Lord Harry Potter-Black, The Montrose."

The Aurors recorded the response and Auror Masters looked at the next question with a smile. "Do we even have to ask this one?" he said to the others. Since both of them had already been through this and knew what the next question was they just smiled. Auror Masters looked at Harry. "Do you now or have you ever supported or assisted in any way the being known as You Know Who, Voldemort or Tom Riddle?"

"No."

They recorded the answer and Auror Masters looked at Harry again, asking, "have you ever misused the power of your position for personal gain, or for the gain of anyone else?"

Harry's eyes grew confused. "Yes, no. I don't know."

Auror Fairwater had been warned about this. "Auror, you'll have to specify which position you're asking about. Lord Black has several, you know."

The Auror nodded. "Lord Black, have you ever misused the power of your Ministry position for personal gain or for the gain of anyone else?"

"I don't know."

The Auror looked at him. "Can you explain why you don't know?"

"I have not yet read or learned all the rules of this position. I may have broken some rule I don't know yet."

The Auror team looked at each other. "Are we seriously questioning someone that's worried about breaking rules he doesn't even know?"

Harry was given the antidote to the truth potion and he shook his head as the affect wore off.

The two Auror finished the form and had Harry sign it.

Harry was deep in the paperwork when Auror Fairwater came in. "Miss Black is here, Sir. Shall I show her in?"

Harry looked up and smiled. "Which Miss Black are you referring to?"

"Miss Hermione Black, Sir."

"Send her in."

Hermione came in a minute later. "Hello, Harry. Are you ready to go to the Wizengamot?"

Harry looked at the piles of paperwork he still had to go over and back at Hermione. "Not really, but I don't have a choice, do I?"

Hermione came around his desk and looked at Harry. She'd known Harry for several very intense years and she knew the look of an emotional Harry better than anyone. "Harry?"

He looked at her. "I'm fine, Hermione."

He got up and started out of the office. Hermione hurried after him, rolling her eyes. "I'm fine. Right. Like I've never heard that lie before," she muttered as she went after him.

The three of them went to the Wizengamot chamber. Hermione and Miranda went to the spectator seats while Harry was joined by Nicholas Sharpstar. Harry and the Solicitor had a short briefing, with Nicholas making sure that Harry knew everything that he needed to know for this meeting.

Harry settled into his Wizengamot seat as he looked at the notes Sharpstar had given him. This was going to be a long four hours.

_**OoOoOoO Gerald, just outside London. OoOoOoO**_

Gerald looked at his people. Fourteen faces stared back at him. "You know what we're going to do. These scum are killing people and they have been given to us. There may be a hostage or two in there. Those people will be Obliviated and released unharmed, but we don't have to deal with that. Moody and his people will be here exactly five minutes after our first spell. We will be gone before then."

He looked at his team. "We will not be leaving any survivors that are not victims. Period. Are there any questions?"

One of the women looked at him. "What if they're not all here?"

"The one we caught stated that the ritual they are doing tonight is a regular thing and everyone has to be here or suffer their leader's wrath. Since he is a follower of You Know Who, I assume his anger is something to be avoided. But, if any of them are not accounted for, we'll hunt them down later."

He looked around. "Any other questions?"

"Are we using those spells?" Everyone looked at Gerald.

He nodded slowly. "At least one of the people on the other side is a wizard trained by You Know Who. You may use any spell that allows you to live and kills the enemy." He checked his watch. "They have been doing the ritual for thirty minutes. You and you, go take out the sentries. As soon as they are gone, we'll start the assault."

The two he'd pointed at disillusioned themselves and went toward the small house. It was for sale, and had been for nearly ten years. The track leading to it was overgrown and the house appeared to be falling down. It was the perfect place for Lucifer and his cultists to gather for their dark rituals and sabbats. One of Lucifer's people owned it, and had put it up for sale before "going" to India as part of a Missionary group, supposedly. Since the price he was asking was three times what it was worth, no one ever came out to look at it.

Gerald and his team had scouted it earlier in the day and knew that under the house was a series of rooms. They'd mapped them out and were prepared to deal with the people that would be in there now, doing whatever they did.

Gerald waited for the word from his two sentry killers.

Anson Rimaldi came up behind his target, who appeared to be a simple Muggle. He noted the gun and sneered. Like that thing could hurt a prepared Wizard. Not that it mattered, this sentry wasn't very good at his job, standing in one place and smoking a cigarette. He came up behind him, invisible and silenced and prepared to take him out. He waited for him to take one last drag and lower his arm.

Anson put one hand around his neck, cutting off the air and any chance of calling out even as his other hand came up with his knife. He struck, holding the blade vertically as he pushed it into the man's side below the ribs and just above the hips, slicing through his kidney. Anson turned the blade horizontally and pulled it across his target until the blade was stopped by the spine.

The massive shock, pain and trauma the body was subjected to paralysed the sentry and he died there, held up by Anson. The wizard lowered his target to ground slowly, making sure that there was no noise to alert anyone that might have heard anything.

He returned to the meeting point and looked for the branch the two had chosen earlier. He broke the tip of it and waited. A few minutes later, the branch broke again and Anson knew the other man had returned and the way was clear for the main force to start their attack. He used the 'Lumos' spell to light his wand tip for a second and then cut it off with 'Nox'.

A few seconds later, he saw an answering flash. He made a second flash and started patrolling around the house. His part of the attack was over, but his secondary task was too make sure that no one that wasn't one of their people left before Moody's people got here.

Anson continued around the house, trusting his partner to be doing his job as well.

Gerald saw the flash and answered it before turning to the rest of his people. "Right. We're clear to the door. Everyone knows what we've got planned, let's go."

The twelve people with him broke into their teams, four people in each team and ghosted up to the door of the house. The first team silenced the door and opened it suddenly.

The second team was waiting for that and went in, each person responsible for anyone in their area as they split up to cover the room. They motioned the next team in as they made sure there wasn't anyone in there and the third team went down the hallway from the first room with the first team picking up right behind them. They came to a doorway and the third team went in. As they cleared the room, the first team moved past them, continuing down the hallway toward their destination, the door that led to the rooms that Lucifer's people had dug out.

The house was clear of any people and the three teams gathered at the last door and Gerald nodded once, after he was certain everyone was ready.

Team one opened the door and team two was halfway down the stairs before the cultist at the bottom knew they were even there. The first person going down the stairs saw the cultist and cast a cutting curse at him, severing his jugular and nearly his head from his body. The second person was casting a silencing spell at almost the same time and the body made no noise at it hit the ground.

Team one held the first room as the second team moved to the doorway and went on. The second room didn't have a door either and they were nearly running as they hit the next room. There were just a couple of cages in this room and they cleared it and stopped. The third team was right behind them and they leapfrogged the second team and blew right into the final room. They were casting spells before any of the people in the last room knew they were there.

Lucifer was holding the the cup that he had just drained the life's blood of his sacrifice into when a motion at the back of the room caught his eye. He ducked as a spell flashed by and dropped behind the altar the body lay on.

Chaos had erupted as the people that had attacked mercilessly cut his followers down. He pulled his wand and cast a rotting curse at one of them, only to have a barrage of spells come back.

It took less than five seconds for the combined efforts of two teams to destroy the altar and the person hiding behind it. Gerald looked around. The only person that they might have left alive had been killed before they entered and he crossed the room, looking at the man behind the altar, the one that had been using the wand.

To his surprise he was still alive, although not for long. His arm was gone entirely and other wounds marred his body. He looked at Gerald and coughed blood. "Satan will have his day," he whispered hoarsely, and Gerald shook his head slowly as he raised his wand.

"No, he won't. He will fall, just as you have." Gerald waited a second, letting the man realize he was about to die and then finished it. "Reducto."

He looked up. One of his teams was watching the door and the other two were making sure all of the targets were dead.

His second in command looked at him. "Four minute mark, Gerald. Diana was sent to the Healers with a rotting curse, no other injuries. There are no enemy survivors and we can leave at any time."

Gerald nodded. "Let's go then." One of the fighters went out to let the guards know it was time to go and the rest started Apparating out.

Thirty seconds later, they were no living people anywhere on the property.

_**OoOoOoO Moody. OoOoOoO**_

Moody had examined each body and room with Magic and his eye, following the train of events as if he'd been there. He looked at his people. "Damn fine work here. I'm impressed."

David Jergison came up. "I've seen this before, you know. Do you remember the Grayson murders?"

Moody frowned, thinking back. "I think so, someone killed the family in the night, didn't they? Just before the Potters died."

Jergison nodded. "Yes. This attack matches that one perfectly. We had always assumed that it had been Death Eaters and that they had been interrupted before casting the Dark Mark, but maybe we need to rethink that."

Moody frowned. "Whatever they may have done, they are our allies now. Maybe we should talk to them first, before we start cutting down Harry's people. I'd prefer not to be fighting with Voldemort and Harry Potter at the same time."

Jergison snorted. "That's why I'm telling you. You get the privilege of talking to Potter about this. You are the boss after all."

Moody just sighed. "Thanks, David. Thank you very much."

David smirked at him. "What are friends for?"

_**OoOoOoO Grabhand, Gringotts. OoOoOoO**_

"Snatchear, the time has come to start offering Mr. Potter a bit more help. You will find him a troop of Goblins trained in using the boxes he likes. Only our best, mind you. I'll be owling Mr. Potter and discussing terms."

The other Goblin left and Grabhand sat back in his chair. He looked at his new office and substantially larger desk. If his association with Mr. Potter worked, he'd be elevated to the Council, in position to take over the London Gringotts when Ragnarok stepped down.

Of course, if it didn't, he'd be Dragon food. He began to examine the things he could do to help Mr. Potter and incur some favours owed. Mr. Potter was an open minded wizard and one that understood debts had to be paid. Grabhand would be fair with Mr. Potter, but this was business after all and that meant making a profit.

_**OoOoOoO Harry and the Order. OoOoOoO**_

"Harry, we've got another incursion."

Harry looked up from his place at the table. "Where?" He came to stand next to Katie who was on the map monitoring detail. She'd already sent Remus to check the mass Apparations that had appeared on the map.

"Just outside of Belfast. It appears to be ten or eleven people."

Harry nodded, staring at the map intently. Remus popped back in then. "It's Death Eaters."

Remus continued to report as Katie and Hermione made Portkeys. "Their target appears to be a house about two hundred metres to the left of where they appeared. At least that was the only visible thing."

Harry nodded and looked at the other people going with him. Pansy and Hermione would never let him go alone and that meant Miranda would be there to watch over Hermione. Remus and his team, a dozen Windenmeres and the three of them. Not the overwhelming odds they wanted, but they didn't have a choice.

Harry looked up as Hermione, Miranda and Pansy joined him. "Let's go," he said tersely and three Portkeys were touched.

The three groups appeared and Harry's people started making a perimeter even as they started toward the know of dark robes they could see moving towards the only mad made structure in sight. Harry was leading as the group spread out, leaving enough room between each person that a missed spell fired at one person would hit another, but close enough to provide support to each other.

The Death Eaters didn't see them coming until Harry and his people were within spell range.

Their first indication that anyone was there was the explosive death of one of the ones in the back. Harry's "Concussio" spell reduced him to so much meat.

In the instant of shock, Harry killed another Death Eater and was preparing to strike another as the rest of his people started scattering and firing spells at the Death Eaters.

None of Harry's people noticed as one of the Death Eaters simply disappeared.

The Death Eaters rallied, ducking behind a small outbuilding of some sort and firing spells from cover. Harry's people had plans for this and they paired up, one person shielding the pair while the other attacked the Death Eaters. They began circling the building, looking for targets when Harry made it unnecessary.

"Concussio" had been developed to affect the thick hide and magic resistance of Dragons. The Order already knew what it would do to people and now Harry showed them what it would do to inanimate objects as he focused his Aestuomagius and cast his spell.

The wooden sides of the building were no match for the emotionally driven spell and splinters flew in every direction as the building simply ceased to exist. Several of the Death Eaters behind it were injured by the flying shrapnel and Harry's people put three more down before they recovered.

Remus was shielding Tonks as they fought and frowning. He had been on the last few missions and this was too easy. The surviving Death Eaters were better than this. The hackles on the back of his neck rose and he spun around.

"It's a trap!"

Harry looked at Remus and followed his arm. More than thirty Death Eaters on Broomsticks flew toward them, with forty or fifty more on foot.

Harry swore. "Everyone go now," he barked out. He wasn't about to fight fifteen to sixty odds.

"Harry, we can't" He turned to see one of the Windenmere fighters tapping the Portkey. "They must have wards up."

Harry looked at Miranda, who had pushed Hermione behind her and was between the Death Eaters and Hermione. "Take Pansy and Hermione and go."

Harry looked at his fighters. "Remus, you and Tonks lead the withdrawal. Leave me four people to cover the retreat.

Pansy and Hermione started to say something and Harry cut them off. "That's not a request," he snarled. Harry's eyes were burning as he turned toward the Death Eaters coming at them.

Miranda started herding the protesting girls away from the Death Eaters as Harry pulled his Broomstick from his pocket and restored it to full size.

The airborne Death Eaters were taken aback when a single flyer started toward them and they changed course toward the fool that was rapidly approaching them.

Confidence changed to shock as the figure disappeared to reappear in their very midst. Harry rammed the first one, knocking him off his broomstick and cutting under one while casting a burning spell on the broomstick.

The Death Eaters tried to hit the whirling dervish that had attacked them, but Harry never stopped moving, his lessons from Moody and Miranda keeping him in constant motion, using the bodies of the Death Eaters as cover.

Several of them fell to curses from their companions and four more fell to Harry's spells before they realized that he was using them to block each other. They began spreading out, trying to stay far enough away from each other and Harry to cast spells without hitting each other.

Harry pulled up and shot into the sky, rolling over when he was out of range of most spells. The Order members on the ground were heading away from the Death Eaters, with the four Remus had detailed as the rearguard staying back and watching the approaching Death Eaters. One of the Order people was constantly trying the Portkey, looking for the edge of the wards that prevented using them.

Harry froze for a second. From his position he could see a sizeable mass of Death Eaters on the other side of the house.

His people were about to walk into another group of Death Eaters.

Harry snarled and pointed his Broom at the new group, arrowing toward them at speeds no lesser Broomstick could hope to match.

Hermione and Pansy were watching him even as Miranda kept them moving. "What is he doing?" asked Hermione as Harry left the flying Death Eaters behind. Miranda looked up and then at the house ahead of them.

She hissed and pulled them to a stop. "Mr. Lupin," she called, pointing at Harry when Remus looked at her. Remus looked up and then ahead.

Remus swore under his breath as he figured out that they were well and truly mousetrapped. Death Eaters to the front and rear, and even some in the sky. He gathered his people and they formed a circle, everyone facing out. They were preparing to fight when Harry disappeared behind the house.

Harry came shooting back over the top of the house an instant later with spells following him. He cut back toward the group, flying as fast as he could go, not even looking back.

He shot over the Order people and as he did the house exploded with an impossibly loud roar. The blast wave hit them a second later throwing everyone except Miranda to the ground. Remus picked himself up and looked toward the house.

Rather, where the house had been. There were bits of it here and there, and more bits falling out of the sky along with other things. It wasn't until the burnt upper half of a man dressed in Death Eaters robes landed nearby that Remus figured out what those other bits were.

Harry pulled up and hovered in front of the Death Eaters that had been chasing his people. He looked at them, searching for Voldemort.

"You people have made a mistake." Harry's voice was faintly amused and his eyes were burning with a light most of these people had seen before.

Bellatrix's eyes had looked like that before she went off to do something to someone. More than one Death Eater had a sudden chill.

One of them cast a rotting curse at Harry who avoided it easily. "You should have thought about this before you came to me. You're in the wards. You cannot Portkey out, you cannot Apparate out, you can't escape." Harry smiled at them benignly. "I know what you're thinking. There's a lot of us and only one of him."

"The only problem with that is that you can't kill me. Only your master can do that and he's not here." Harry grinned at the frozen Death Eaters. "I bet I can kill you, though."

Harry pointed his wand at one of them and before the startled man could move Harry used a cutting curse to send his head spinning.

The body fell and Harry looked at the rest of them. "Yes, I can kill you."

The Death Eaters knew about the Prophecy, just as everyone else did, but this was the first time any of them had been confronted by Harry Potter and had it driven home. Several of the ones in the back were easing back further.

Harry suddenly disappeared and they all jumped. "Apparation is impossible, he must be disillusioned," one of them said.

One of the Death Eaters in the back made a gurgling sound and they all turned to stare at him. Harry stood behind him, smiling at them in a way that they had thought gone with Bella. "Not true." The Death Eater fell over, trying vainly to keep his entrails from falling out of the large hole in his abdomen.

Harry disappeared again and this time they heard the cutting spell come from behind them. They spun around again, to see one of theirs fall to the ground in two pieces. Harry disappeared again even as they turned.

"Wards only keep you from Apparating out, not from Apparating within the wards."

They turned again, to see Harry standing next to a Death Eater. "Reducto" Harry said and the front of the Death Eater head blew off, covering his mates with blood and denser matter from inside his skull. Harry disappeared again.

The Death Eater morale broke completely at that point. First one and then all of them were running from the smiling madman.

The madman didn't stop though. He would appear and another head would explode or some other equally gruesome death would happen to the person Harry chose as his target. The Death Eater ran from from the smiling man, fighting to keep as many of their fellows between him and them selves as they could.

Several of them were tripped up, either physically or magically, by their own companions and Harry obligingly killed anyone who fell behind. That only spurred them to greater efforts to keep him away. Within seconds, the ones at the back of the mob were cursing the ones in front of them, leaping over them as they fell, panic rising higher and higher.

Harry giggled as he pushed on them, stopping to kill another one. He couldn't let up for a second. He'd found out a few weeks ago that he could make people feel what he felt, he'd used it once to let his people know how he felt about them.

Now, he was using it to send his fear for Hermione and Pansy into the Death Eaters, making them feel the panic he felt at the thought of losing either of the girls. As they fell under that fear and they became afraid of him, he used that, increasing and doubling their own fear, pushing it higher and higher.

The Death Eaters were beyond casting spells now, some of them just curling up on the ground and weeping or simply closing their eyes and waiting to die, fear overcoming even survival instincts.

Harry gave them their wish, not even breaking stride as he followed the ones still capable on moving.

He blasted quivering lumps, removed heads and insured that no one that he caught up with would ever threaten any of his people again.

As their numbers fell and the fear grew, one of the Death Eaters suddenly stopped, grabbing his chest. He fell over and the cutting curse that cut his chest open to the spine was unneeded.

He had literally died of fright.

By the time they reached the edge of the wards, there were just four Death Eaters still moving away from the nightmare behind them.

The first one to reach the edge of the wards tried to Apparate out, but his concentration failed as Harry pushed the fear up another notch and he Splinched himself, leaving a leg and an arm behind as he disappeared.

Another one was caught by Harry's "Concussio" spell. The last two were nearly mindless with the fear they felt and Harry stopped, pouring all his power into the fear.

The two Death Eaters that he targeted stopped, and fell to the ground. Harry came up and stood over them, looking at them. Both of them had the same blank look and Harry nudged one with his foot. The man didn't react and Harry squatted down, checking his eyes.

The former Death Eater just stared blankly at nothing, no matter what Harry did. Harry put him on top of the other man and searched them for the Portkey every Death Eater carried. Since each Portkey could only be triggered by the wand of the person they were made for, the Auror and Harry's People couldn't use them to back track the Death Eaters. They might be able to catch a Death Eater and force him to Portkey with his wand, but each Portkey would only take two people. Since one of them had to be the Death Eater it was made for, that would mean sending one person into a Death Eater stronghold alone.

He found it and set it on the two mindless men. He used the Death Eater's wand to trigger it and smiled coldly as they disappeared in a flash. Let Voldemort think about that for a while.

_AN:_

_Harry's a little upset right now and you may note that he's pushing a bit harder than before. With Voldemort running out of time and Harry willing to meet him halfway... I think this war is going to end soon... one way or another._


End file.
